FOLLOWING a match against a Leeds United side who are finding their feet in the Championship after three seasons in the League One wilderness, it might have seemed an odd claim.

But it seems that Nottingham Forest, the team who finished third in last season's Championship, still have something to learn about playing at this level themselves.

History is certainly repeating itself at the City Ground, following a start to the campaign that seems all too familiar. Billy Davies' side are again producing positive performances – but not the results to go with them.

A single point from two Championship fixtures and knocked out of the Carling Cup – this is not fair reward for some of the football Forest have produced.

Last season, Forest won only one of their first eight league fixtures but still went on to push for a place in the Premiership.

And, just as had been the case at Burnley and Bradford, this was a game that should have been dead and buried within 30 minutes of kick-off.

Instead, the manager was left to warn his players that they not only need to be more clinical in front of goal, but also, significantly, to toughen up; to become more rugged.

At half-time at Burnley, Davies had issued a 'less than polite' request that his full-backs showed more attacking ambition, following a reserved first half display.

Eight days later, it was obviously a message that was still ringing loud in Chris Gunter's ears as the Welshman's advances down the right were integral to Forest's early dominance – and to them subsequently taking the lead.

A swept, bending Gunter cross from deep on the right should have provided a goal in the first two minutes, with Paul Anderson arriving like a steam train on the edge of the six yard box, only to see Kasper Schmeichel deny him with an instinctive block.

Gunter surged forwards again, this time striding purposefully into the box with the ball, where a lunging challenge from left-back Federico Bessone felled the Forest man, without making any real contact with the ball.

Referee Tony Bates did not seem to want to incur the wrath of the huge mass of Leeds fans behind the goal by pointing to the spot.

But Forest's own indignation was not to last long, as yet another Gunter foray inspired the game's opening goal, in the tenth minute.

This time the right-back's right boot was to deliver the kind of cross that striker's probably lie awake dreaming of at night, as he presented Dexter Blackstock with the simple, but eagerly accepted, task of guiding a precise, angled header beyond the exposed Schmeichel.

Leeds fans had been taunting their hosts with chants extolling the virtues of their former manager – and Brian Clough's nemesis – Don Revie.

But they were soon silenced as Forest began to hand out a lesson that they themselves learned the hard way a few years ago, over the gulf in class that exists between League One and the Championship.

Robert Earnshaw, who has looked a revived, rejuvenated figure already, early in the campaign, should have plundered a second after an intelligent exchange with Blackstock sent him skipping through on goal.

But, as Leeds' former Notts County keeper made himself impressively big, Earnshaw found himself denied by the woodwork for the second time in two games as lifted a flicked shot against the post.

For all Forest's superiority, it still required a smart save from Lee Camp to deny Leeds a leveller, as they visitors composed a rare attack through the pace of Sanchez Watt.

The on-loan Arsenal man, one of three forwards in a 4-3-3 formation, sent Luciano Becchio surging into the box with a simple pass, with the Forest keeper saving his defence's blushes with an alert, decisive block at the Argentinean striker's feet.

Forest were playing with patient craft and guile but, when a slip in Leeds' own passing presented them with the chance of a four on two break, Cohen was guilty of a rare moment of indecisiveness, losing control of the ball and allowing the opportunity to slip away.

It proved a decisive moment as, within a minute, the visitors clawed a goal back with a strike that was almost a carbon copy of the Forest opener, as Bradley Johnson centred an enticing cross from the left for Lloyd Sam to flick a header across goal and into the bottom corner.

As half-time approached, the scoreline was not an accurate reflection of the first half.

But, when Radi Majewski, Anderson and Blackstock threaded together a flurry of passes, the Leeds defence was thrown into panic once more, leading to a corner that Blackstock rose to head wide of the post.

It was a timely example of the profligacy that had cost Forest dear in their previous two fixtures of the new season and again threatened to derail their afternoon.

The second half began with Watt stretching the Forest defence as he cut inside menacingly from the left flank to flash a vicious shot across the face of goal and narrowly wide.

And, while Forest had been the superior side in the first period, it was Leeds who began to take control in the second, as they denied Forest the room to manoeuvre.

Sam, the man who had delivered Leeds' equaliser, came close with a second header, as the balance swung in the Yorkshire side's favour.

Davies made two changes in an effort to change the tide, bringing on Garath McCleary and Nathan Tyson.

But the fans in the Main Stand did not seem to recognise that Forest were chasing victory as, when the ball bounced into the A-Block area, they refused to return it for some time, instead deciding to throw it around among themselves.

The delays continued as the game was stopped for several minutes to allow Camp to receive treatment to a head injury and again when an ugly melee developed.

Virtually every player from both sides was involved as Gunter reacted angrily when Camp appeared to have been trodden on.

A more officious referee might have sent off both him and Leeds' main protagonist, Watt.

Despite six minutes of injury time, neither side really managed to threaten, as the game petered out limply.

As Davies said, there is much Forest still have to learn.