Millwall’s dominant display counted for nothing as Barrie McKay’s first-half strike was enough to earn Nottingham Forest a 1-0 win.

But Forest rode their luck as the Lions hit the crossbar and missed an open goal.

Millwall had 22 shots on Jordan Smith’s goal, but could not convert one.

Here are five things we learned…

The Morison-Gregory combo will work in the Championship

Steve Morison and Lee Gregory scored a combined total of 37 goals in League One last season. Any doubts that they would not be able to terrify Championship defenders would have disappeared after their performance at the City Ground on Friday night.

The pair were wasteful in front of goal against Forest, but showed many signs that their partnership will continue to work, even in a higher league.

Morison teed up Gregory on two occasions, however, like his team-mates, the former Halifax striker could not take his chances.

Hutchinson and Cooper impressed - leaving Webster’s starting place in further doubt

One surprise in Neil Harris’ starting eleven was the decision to play Jake Cooper instead of Byron Webster.

Webster was an ever-present in the Millwall team that won promotion to the Championship, and was picked ahead of Cooper in the League One play-off final.

And with Cooper only joining the club last Friday, the decision to bench Webster surprised a few. Now, the ex-Yeovil defender faces a fight to get his starting spot back after Cooper and Hutchinson dealt well with Forest’s attacks.

Millwall were the unluckiest team on the planet

Millwall restricted Forest to long, hopeful shots, and one of them went in and proved to be the winner. McKay’s 41st-minute goal came against the run of play as the Lions had chance after chance after chance.

Morison hit the crossbar, Gregory missed an open goal, Fred Onyedinma headed wide from three yards and Jed Wallace, George Saville and Aiden O’Brien passed up golden opportunities.

And when Millwall did have the ball in the back of the net, thanks to a tidy finish from Morison, referee Peter Bankes disallowed the goal because of an apparent off-the-ball foul by Gregory.

It was one of those games where the Lions could’ve played for an extra three hours and they still wouldn’t have scored. They were extremely unlucky.

Harris’ men will be no pushovers in the second tier

Bookmakers have Millwall as one of the favourites to go down this season. But after this display, they might change their mind.

Forest could not handle the Lions’ quick, direct football and were lucky to come away with a win. If Millwall put in half as good a performance as the one against Forest, then they will be a force to be reckoned with.

McLaughlin struggled

Firstly, Conor McLaughlin should have had an assist to his name when his cross was met by O’Brien, who headed over from close-range in the first-half. But that was one of his few attacks from right-back.

The Northern Ireland defender was troubled by Barrie McKay for the whole evening. He let McKay run, and run, and run before he took aim and scored the winner.

But it wasn’t just the goal, when one-on-one with McKay, he was outdone for pace every time. It’s something Forest targeted in the second-half.

It was McLaughlin’s competitive bow for the Lions, and having very little Championship experience, he will, hopefully, get better. But he’ll have Mahlon Romeo, who didn’t even make the bench, breathing down his neck.