Rotherham United 2-1 Reading: Still Waiting

Lewis Wing’s first-half free-kick wasn’t enough even for a point as Reading extended their winless away run.

So Reading’s wait for a league away win continues. The Royals managed four of those last season, have picked up just the one point on the road this season, and a frustrating 2-1 loss at Rotherham United this afternoon meant the record didn’t improve. We’ll get there eventually - hopefully not having to wait until late November again…

Today though, Reading didn’t look much like getting that win. Though the Royals led the contest for a time, thanks to a typically sumptuous direct free-kick from Lewis Wing in the 26th minute, the overall performance left a lot to be desired: too passive, too easily frustrated, too error-prone.

Making it worse is the fact that this looked like a real opportunity to get points on the board. The Millers have started the season slowly, Reading were coming into this afternoon on the back of two home wins, and we even had recent experience of beating a Steve Evans side away from home: a gritty 1-0 win on a torrential February evening in Stevenage.

Reading (4-3-3): Button; Craig, Mbengue, Bindon, Abrefa; Elliott, Wing, Knibbs; Campbell, Smith, Ehibhatiomhan

Subs: Rowley, Dean, Garcia, Savage, Tuma, Akande, Wareham

Ruben Selles made one, defensively minded, change to the team that beat Burton Albion 3-1 in midweek: Kelvin Abrefa in for Andre Garcia at left-back. With Coniah Boyce-Clarke absent, Matt Rowley stepped up to the bench as Reading’s sub goalie, getting a first taste of senior involvement.

The first half was, to be honest, a pretty dull and straightforward affair. Rotherham were effective at stopping Reading from playing their game due to some aggressive pressing and, though the hosts did well for possession and territory, putting plenty of balls into the box, the Royals stood firm throughout. David Button’s goal was barely troubled.

The Royals weren’t able to control the game or create quality chances but they grabbed a 1-0 lead shortly before the half-hour mark regardless. On a rare convincing foray forward, Wing was taken down just outside the area. He stepped up, found the perfect mix of placement and power to beat the ‘keeper just inside the far post, and Reading were in front!

So far, so good. Reading had a solid foundation to build on after the restart.

Cast your mind back to that Stevenage game. Reading’s winner came before the break but they raised their game in the second half to get the result over the line. The same was required again today… but this time the Royals crumbled.

Just four minutes into the second half, Sam Nombe got to a low cross at the near post before his marker, tucking home from close range to level the game. Seven minutes later, Button couldn’t deal with a cross to the back post and Hakeem Odoffin converted.

After 45 minutes of resolutely denying the hosts, one moment of poor defending and another of poor goalkeeping meant they had the lead within 11 minutes of the second half kicking off. The winning goal was, alas, all too familiar: this isn’t the first time Reading have conceded due to Button not commanding his box well enough.

Even if you take those goals out of the equation however, Reading weren’t good enough elsewhere on the pitch either. Regardless of the defending and goalkeeping, it was Rotherham who were asking the questions in the opening stages of the second half, not Reading. It was Rotherham who reacted more strongly to the equaliser, not Reading.

The Royals had more than half an hour to find a way back into the game at 2-1 down, but the next big moment of the match went a long way to ensuring the Millers’ win. Garcia and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan were already on yellow cards by the time that, in the 68th minute, the former got involved in a scuffle following a challenge by the hosts’ defensive byline. Ehibhatiomhan followed in to back his teammate up and, recklessly, shoved a Rotherham player away.

Regardless of what else had happened in that coming-together, if you’re on a booking and you clearly push an opponent like that, you give the referee a decision to make. I can’t fault Ehibhatiomhan’s passion, but he had to keep his head there, not succumb to the emotion of the moment. It’s a tough lesson that he now must learn from.

At that point there was only so much Selles could do to change things up. Charlie Savage and Jayden Wareham came on for Chem Campbell and Ben Elliott in a switch to 4-3-2: the same as the usual 4-3-3 but this time including a classic strike pairing, with Savage’s energy giving more cover in the absence of an 11th player.

Wareham looked lively up top and had a quality chance blocked shortly after his introduction. The young striker hasn’t really had a major impact for Reading at first-team level just yet, but having another centre-forward as a partner today seemed to bring more out of him.

Reading didn’t give up in the closing stages, despite being down to 10 men, and kept plugging away, but to no avail. Attitude wasn’t lacking but quality sometimes was, the Royals looking sloppy in possession too often - perhaps the effect of fatigue on a small squad playing its third game in a week.

Although the Royals head into the international break (ignoring Tuesday’s Pizza Cup game at Cheltenham Town) on a low note, we shouldn’t be all that down. Not all that long ago we had a dire few days: first seeing the takeover collapse, then losing heavily at Bolton Wanderers.

Reading have responded to that with six points from nine, a return we would have certainly taken after that 5-2 defeat in Greater Manchester. Two out of three ain’t bad.