Hull City 0 Nottingham Forest 0: Stalemate at KC Stadium

In a match of few chances Jimmy Bullard went close for Hull and Forest striker Robert Earnshaw had an effort ruled out for offside.

The stalemate left both sides on eight points after seven matches but only four points adrift of sixth-placed Swansea.

Pearson believes Hull can pick up after a steady start to the campaign.

"The league is so compact and we're still not far away despite a less-than-perfect start," he said.

"I'm still optimistic we can be involved in the promotion shake-up.

"We have to score more goals, and on the road we have to be more difficult to beat.

"On the face of it a nil-nil draw sounds a bit drab, but I've seen some very good signs in the past week and a half and I saw more good things (against Forest).

"There have been a lot of changes this year, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We'll continue to develop as a team."

On-loan Liverpool defender Daniel Ayala produced another impressive display and Pearson was delighted with his composure.

"For a lad who's 19 years old, he's done very well. I've seen plenty of defenders who like to look good rather than be good.

"He knows what to do and he's settled in very well. He has a very good manner about him."

Pearson admitted that a draw had been a fair result.

"We were by far the best side in the first half and maybe they shaded it in the second half.

"They made it more difficult for us to play by changing their shape and that nullified what we were doing.

"Both sides could have won it but I'm not sure either side deserved to win it.

"I was very pleased with our resilience and I never felt that we were overly stretched. They had a lot of set plays and that will always be a test."

Forest manager Billy Davies also took the positives from his side's share of the spoils.

He said: "It was an excellent away performance and we're now six undefeated.

"Early on we gave them too much possession, but once we changed things there was only one team in it.

"We didn't use the width of the pitch in the opening 25 minutes, but once we did I think we dominated the match.

"In the second half we played very well and created some excellent chances.

"I think we deserved all three points and our second-half play deserved more than we got."

Davies also lamented a lack of luck, as well as a bad miss from Luke Chambers, who headed wide from three yards in the second half.

"We had a glaring miss from Chambers and I'd like to see the offside 'goal' (from Robert Earnshaw)," Davies said.

"I'm not concerned about the number of draws so far. This season we have picked up draws like at Hull when we've played very well, and we have looked very well organised.

"Hull City, who have just come down from the Premier League with a huge wage bill, have come up against a side that's still learning. We're very unfortunate to be sitting with as many draws as we have, but we just need to be a bit more clinical."

Hull City: Duke, McShane, Gerrard, Ayala, Dawson, Bullard, Bostock (Barmby 69), Cairney, Koren, Fagan (Cullen 69), Simpson (Atkinson 82). Unused substitutes: Oxley, Ashbee, Garcia, Kilbane.

Nottingham Forest: Camp, Gunter, Morgan, Bertrand, Chambers, Anderson (Tyson 83), McGugan, McKenna (Majewski 88), Moussi, Cohen, Earnshaw (Blackstock 72). Unused substitutes: Darlow, Adebola, McCleary, Lynch.

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).

Man of the match: Daniel Ayala.

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