Norwich 0-0 Nottingham Forest: Goalless at Carrow Road

Norwich shared the spoils in the Championship for the fifth match running as they were held to a frustrating goalless draw by a determined Nottingham Forest side.

The Canaries had the better of it at Carrow Road, but were unable to take the chances that came their way, with star man James Maddison wasting the best of them when he blazed over early in the second half.

Forest only threatened occasionally, but will have been delighted to have come away with a hard-earned point that maintained their recent improvement under Aitor Karanka.

The visitors, who went into the game with a four match unbeaten run behind them, were first to threaten on 12 minutes when a swift counter-attack saw Everton loanee Kieran Dowell play in Ben Brereton, who dragged his shot wide.

The young striker also went close midway through the opening period when his chip over Angus Gunn was only just off target, but by then Norwich could easily have been ahead.

It looked a goal all the way when Josh Murphy connected with Maddison's 18th-minute corner, but visiting keeper Costel Pantilimon produced a brilliant reflex save to keep the scores level.

The Romanian was called into action again on 27 minutes to prevent a Murphy shot creeping in while in the next home attack, wing-back Jamal Lewis almost got on the end of a dangerous Maddison cross as the Canaries started to turn up the heat.

Tobias Figueiredo and Jack Colback were both shown yellow cards as Forest struggled to stem the tide, although they got through to half-time on level terms against a side who had drawn their previous four matches.

Norwich spurned a glorious chance to get their noses in front seven minutes into the second when Onel Hernandez squared the ball back to Maddison but Norwich's top scorer fluffed his lines and blazed well over.

Maddison did his best to make amends on the hour mark after gliding past a couple of challenges, but his shot didn't trouble Pantilimon.

It's wasn't entirely one-way traffic, with Dowell firing over after good work from Matty Cash, while Cash directed a header wide from a good position and Brereton's well struck effort was well held by Gunn.

The Canaries continued to have more of the ball but were unable to find their way past a determined Forest rearguard and had to settle for a third successive draw at Carrow Road that further dented their slim play-off hopes.

The managers

Daniel Farke: "In general I think again today we were the better team. Our defending was really good, we dominated the game and created the chances to win.

"We missed one quality - the quality to put the ball over the line. We fought to the end, but it's difficult when you're not scoring. It's sad because the lads are giving everything to do it, so it's tough to accept."

Aitor Karanka: "It wasn't the greatest game but it is another game where we have kept growing and improving. We've had chances to score and win but you know if you can't win the game then you should at least take a point and a clean sheet.

"Seven of the players out there tonight haven't played much football over the last few months so they looked a bit tired towards the end but they showed they wanted to fight for the team and get us a point."

Super 6 £1m jackpot

Simply predict six correct scores to win Jeff's £1 million. Enter your selections for free here.