Simon Grayson hailed the performance of Leeds stopper Kasper Schmeichel which helped earn his side a goalless draw at Reading in the npower Championship. "Reading have some good attacking options and the changes they made in the second half made it difficult for us," said Grayson.

"My players put their bodies on the line and our keeper made some great saves.

"It was our first clean sheet in 11 games but we didn't have the attacking side that we have had in recent weeks. We didn't really test the keeper."

Only a great stoppage-time save from Schmeichel's opposite number Adam Federici denied Leeds captain Jonny Howson, but Grayson conceded his side struggled to create opportunities.

"I don't know why it was missing in the final third. Sometimes you lose your spark or maybe it's good defending by the other side," he said.

"Ask any manager if you get everything right in every game you would be in the Premier League. Kasper made some good saves and they missed some chances."

Reading boss Brian McDermott felt Leeds should have been reduced to 10 men when Max Gradel tangled with Andy Griffin.

"I thought he was lucky to stay on the pitch. He kicked out at Griffin. I don't know why Griffin was booked as he didn't do anything at all," he said.

"That's our fourth successive draw but I thought we should have won them all. We threw the kitchen sink at them but they stood up to it. We put 33 crosses into the box.

"This is an open division with plenty of teams chasing the prize. If we'd won we would have gone seventh. In the sort of spell we are in at the moment it's a case of hanging on until we turn the draws into wins and I am sure we will.

"If we had got the goal we would have gone on to win 1-0. We have had a tough period but I can't think that the games are going to get easier. Every game in this league is getting more difficult because there's such a big prize."