Ten-man Millwall have held Reading to a goalless draw in this evening's Championship clash at The Den, a result which does neither side any favours.

The first effort of the game fell to Diego Fabbrini after he was brought down by Nathaniel Chalobah for a free kick, but the set piece was comfortably saved by Adam Federici.

Reading were next to threaten as Pavel Pogrebnyak connected with a Jordan Obita cross before letting rip with a shot that soared wide of David Forde's left-hand post.

The hosts then very nearly opened the scoring in the 37th minute as Lee Gregory collected a headed Stefan Maierhofer flick-on before going on to fire inches wide of the post from outside the box.

A major setback then befell Millwall when they found themselves a man down on the stroke of half time, Sid Nelson being shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle.

After the break, Forde had to be alert to keep out Obita's effort, while at the other end, Fabbrini sent a cross the way of Gregory, who headed just wide.

Chances kept coming thick and fast as debutant Joos Hooiveld saw his thumping header tipped over the bar by Federici, before Paris Cowan-Hall sent his shot just off target.

Nevertheless, neither side was able to break the deadlock come the end of the game, and so both had to settle for a share of the spoils.

The result at The Den, combined with Rotherham United's thumping 4-2 win against Bolton Wanderers, means that Millwall now find themselves five points from safety in the Championship's bottom three, while Reading sit in 18th place.