Reading 4-1 Crawley Town: Player Ratings
Harry rates the Royals after an iffy performance but a comprehensive result.
David Button: 7
After Mbengue spared him from a horror moment in the first half, Button recovered well in the game to produce some really important saves. He was a lot busier than we all would’ve liked him to be, but without him today’s result could’ve been a lot different.
Michael Craig: 5
He’s doing a pretty impressive job covering at right-back all in all, but today was an off-day for him really. He was far too sloppy in possession, and Crawley managed to get in down his side a bit too much - particularly in the second half.
Amadou Mbengue: 8
He took his goal very well and, as mentioned earlier, saved Button’s bacon with a pretty heroic last-ditch goalline clearance. Today’s performance was really last-ditch heroism at the back, and taking our chances clinically - and Amadou did both.
Tyler Bindon: 7
Also popped up with a brilliant goal-line block when the score was 3-1. Although we didn't look all too convincing as a defensive unit, Bindon, Mbengue and Button popped up with really key moments - hence the larger scores. A bit of a weird one.
Andre Garcia: 5
I think if you really pushed Selles he’d admit that he’s probably playing Garcia a bit more than he would like. That’s nothing against Garcia’s ability, he’s just a 16-year old kid making his way in professional football. Today he showed a few bright sparks both offensively and defensively, but was part of a back line that looked a bit too vulnerable.
Lewis Wing: 7
By no means his most complete performance, not even close to it actually. But he showed once again that he’s a difference-maker at this level. A screamer from about 35 yards, and a beautiful pass to set up Smith, all proved once more just how crucial he is to this team.
I actually think Crawley outdid us in the midfield today, and far too often they found space in Wing’s area of the pitch. He showed match defining moments of quality, yes, but left a lot to be desired in his overall performance.
Ben Elliott: 5
Maybe too harsh, but I thought he was poor today. He gave the ball away far too often and I thought he should’ve been hooked earlier than he was. He’s shown this season he can be an important part of this team, but today just wasn’t his day.
Charlie Savage: 6
He huffed and puffed, and despatched his goal beautifully, but again on another day we could’ve lost today’s game because we lost the midfield battle. Crawley dominated possession and not one of Savage, Elliott, or Wing managed to get their foot on the ball and allow us to play some of our football.
Adrian Akande: 5
Looked our brightest spark going forward in the first half, but struggled to get into the game after the break really. Still a lot of fine tuning to do to his game, but he'll see a lot of game time this season.
Sam Smith: 6
Smith has come in for a lot of flak recently. He does a lot of dirty, dogged work in this team that goes unnoticed, but even he’d admit he’s goalscoring record isn’t what it perhaps should be. Again he struggled to really get into the game today, but popped up with a really well-taken goal to put the game beyond Crawley.
Harvey Knibbs: 5
I understand Selles’ thoughts about having Knibbs fill in for Kelvin Ehibhationhan on the left wing, but today proved we really need his tenacity, running and ball-winning ability in the middle of the pitch. He was hooked pretty early on, but I’m sure we’ll see him back central on Tuesday night.
Subs
Chem Campbell: 5
He was the player that replaced Knibbs, and hardly had a kick once he came in, apart from giving it away on the edge of the box with his first touch. We really need to start seeing more from him - especially with our squad depth as it is.
Harlee Dean: 6
His entrances to the pitch are usually greeted with murmurs of nervousness from the fans, but today I actually thought he did pretty well when he came on.
Jayden Wareham, Basil Tuma and Shay Spencer: N/A
All came on bang on the 80th minute so unfortunately get a pre-determined N/A. I thought Tuma in particular looked really bright when he came on though - hopefully we see a bit more of him going forward.
Average: 5.92/10
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