Nottingham Forest 0-0 Birmingham City
- Published
Forest had the better of a first half in which Birmingham did not manage an effort on goal
Struggling Nottingham Forest extended their unbeaten run to three games as Birmingham City boss Aitor Karanka steered his side to a draw on a forgettable return to the City Ground.
Forest had the better of the first half, with Ryan Yates going closest with a fierce strike that drew a fine reaction save from goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.
Blues improved after the interval, playing with greater urgency and could have taken all the points when Ivan Sanchez curled an effort narrowly wide.
But neither side were able to create many clear chances as Birmingham, who were thrashed 4-1 by Middlesbrough last time out, ensured they ended a three-game losing run to stay five points clear of their opponents.
Forest, who are now two points above third-from-bottom Derby County and Rotherham United in 21st place, also had a late chance to take all the points when centre-half Tobias Figueiredo was denied by Etheridge.
However, that was just about their only noteworthy attempt as they failed to build on a decent first 45 minutes that saw Yates and Sammy Ameobi go close and Blues unable to muster a strike on target.
An improved Birmingham had the better opportunities thereafter but, although Brice Samba was the busier of the two keepers, his saves were all fairly regulation.
Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton told BBC Radio Nottingham:
"It was a tough game against an opposition that have been on the back of some defeats.
"They worked very hard and tried to limit the amount of ball that we had and pressed well, and I thought we needed to do better on the ball.
"We still manged to get in some good positions, but if I think of some of our play, particularly here in the games that we've played, we've generally had a little bit more of the ball than we had today and got into better areas and that made it a tough game for us.
"Defensively I'm happy with the clean sheet, but I just feel we needed to do more for that breakthrough, we needed to perhaps be a bit braver on the ball to allow us to get into some good positions."
Birmingham City manager Aitor Karanka told BBC WM:
"I think we grew through the game, I think in the second half we were better and it's true that at the beginning of the game we didn't have that confidence because the last three games for us have been almost a nightmare.
"The main thing today was to not make the same mistakes that we made in the last three games.
"Then when we were really well and really organised and really consistent on the pitch in the second half we played better, we were more confident and we created a few chances."