Nottingham Forest grew in confidence over the 90 minutes and created some excellent football to earn all three points against third-place Reading.

After taking a battering for most of the first half Forest came back into the game towards the end of the half and would have been pleased to go in at half time with a clean sheet.

Forest put some great football together in the second half, taking the lead just after the hour mark and defending well to hold onto their lead.

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Reading should have taken the lead in the second minute when Kevin Doyle got away from Wes Morgan and fired in a cross which beat Joel Lynch in the air and fell for Jimmy Kebe, but he dragged the ball wide from 8 yards out.

And they came close again four minutes later when Stephen Hunt crossed the ball from the right. The ball came in with pace along the six-yard line to Brynjar Gunnarson as he timed his run well but then headed over from 6 yards out.

It was then Forest's turn to come close when Luke Chambers' throw was flicked on by Robert Earnshaw. Paul Anderson ran onto the ball and his shot was powerful enough but went just wide of the target.

Reading continued to stretch the Forest defence and Paul Smith was called into action twice within a minute as Liam Rosenior and Marek Matejovsky both tried to get the ball past him.

A long-range shot from Rosenior forced a good save from Smith, diving down low to his left to parry the ball and Morgan scrambled the rebound away.

Nathan Tyson managed to last half an hour struggling with a leg strain but eventually limped off to be replaced by Garath McCleary.

As Forest started to get themselves back into the game towards the end of the half the substitute had a half-chance after some good work by Morgan to get the ball to McCleary who cut in well but then shot over.

And a good ball by Chris Cohen gave Earnshaw a chance, but good defending by Alex Pearce forced him wide.

Forest looked more promising as the second half got under way and grew in confidence as the game progressed.

Their best chance so far came just before the hour mark with some good build-up play. Guy Moussi got the ball forward to McGugan who turned and played it to Anderson, who in turn fed it to Cohen. He tried to bend the ball into the right-hand top corner, forcing a good save from Adam Federici, diving to his right to tip the ball over the crossbar for a corner.

And Forest finally got their breakthrough a couple of minutes later with a brilliant solo effort from McGugan who ran down the right and cut inside Chris Armstrong to beat Federici's dive and bury the ball inside the near post.

Great footwork again by McGugan almost produced another chance, but Michael Duberry managed to intervene and block his effort.

McGugan, feeling the effects of an injury, left the pitch not long after, to be replaced by Matt Thornhill.

Forest defended strongly as the game came towards its conclusion and Reading looked slightly desperate as they pushed forward in an attempt to get back on level terms.

It was a tense finish with five minutes of stoppage time to contend with and by the end the Forest fans were on their feet whistling and Billy Davies was on his feet asking where the extra time was coming from.

But finally it blew for Forest's first victory at the Madejski Stadium and as the Reading fans booed, Davies and all the players went to join the travelling supporters to celebrate.

Nottingham Forest: Paul Smith, Luke Chambers, Wes Morgan(C), Kelvin Wilson, Joel Lynch, Paul Anderson, Guy Moussi, Lewis McGugan(Matt Thornhill, 82min), Chris Cohen, Nathan Tyson(Garath McCleary, 30min),Robert Earnshaw(Ian Breckin, 87min)
Subs not used: Paddy Gamble, Joe Heath,
Bookings: Earnshaw 70min, Morgan 81min, Thornhill 90+6min
Scorer: McGugan 61min

Reading: Adam Federici, Liam Rosenior, Chris Armstrong(Leroy Lita 77min), Michael Duberry, Alex Pearce, Marek Matejovsky, Brynjar Gunnarsson(Kalifa Cisse 77min), Jimmy Kebe(Jay Tabb, 60min), Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle(C), Noel Hunt.
Subs not used: Marcus Hahnemann, James Harper,

Referee: N Swarbrick
Attendance 21,196