Reading 1-0 Bolton Wanderers: Tubthumping
Harvey Knibbs’ late penalty earned the Royals a massive win at home to finish a difficult week in excellent style.
Reading get knocked down, but they get up again, you're never gonna keep them down!
The Royals have had more than their fair share of shocks to the system this season. First the collapse of the Rob Couhig takeover in September, then the loss of Ruben Selles in December, and this week the sale of Sam Smith to Wrexham.
Each time Reading's morale has taken a battering. Those weren't just minor setbacks - in different ways they threatened to massively undermine this team's season and made us afraid for the future of the club itself.
But it says so much about this group's stubborn resilience that, after yet another body blow, after having to come to terms with yet another huge loss, it's still capable of coming up with the goods.
Sure, Reading ultimately won this game 1-0 late on thanks to that rarest of commodities - a penalty - but this was no lucky or undeserved win. The points were earned just as much by the whole team's resilience across the 90 minutes, and its defensive solidity to secure a massive clean sheet, as by Harvey Knibbs' composure from the spot in the dying seconds of normal time.
And that's before you get to the fact that Reading has come into this game on a three-match losing streak. The last of those matches, a late loss at Burton Albion in midweek, was a kick in the proverbials in its own right, but the Royals still have it in them to react.
This wasn't a perfect performance - expecting anything like that would be criminally unfair in the circumstances - but it was just what Reading needed at the end of a tough week. I'm so proud of the lot of them, and of Noel Hunt too, who's now shown twice that he knows how to build his players back up after a poor run of form.
Hunt made two changes to Tuesday's XI, opting to start Jayden Wareham in place of Smith, with Mamadi Camara coming in for Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan on the left. Ehibhatiomhan was presumably not fit enough to start, having looked rusty in midweek.
Reading (4-3-3): Pereira; Craig, Dean, Bindon, Garcia; Knibbs, Wing, Savage; Campbell, Wareham, Camara
Subs: Button, Abrefa, Holzman, Kanu, Rushesha, Sackey, Ehibhatiomhan
Reading started the game strongly and were keen to get at the visitors in the early stages. As was the case in midweek (with the exception of some first-half goals for the opposition) the Royals moved the ball around well in the opening half an hour or so, looking purposeful and positive in possession. And again the focus of attacks was the right flank. Michael Craig got forward well from right-back, combining well with Chem Campbell and Knibbs.
Craig was key in a couple of Reading’s earliest sights of goal. A few minutes in he played Campbell in with a sharp pass down the right (although the winger’s low cross was defended), and a short while later he had a shot of his own blocked after receiving a lay-of from lone striker Wareham.
Campbell was the man to have Reading’s best chance of the first half though. Around quarter of an hour in, Charlie Savage whipped in an excellent cross to the back post, which was met by the head of Campbell, but he couldn’t put the finish either side of former Royal Luke Southwood in the Trotters net.
Bolton grew into the game as the half progressed though, going into the break looking the brighter of the two sides. Their chances tended to be long-range ones however, with Aaron Collins and Josh Sheehan both unable to hit the target with efforts from some way out.
The visitors did come close to breaking the deadlock in the 25th minute though. Camara lost the ball too easily on the left in Reading’s third, and although a subsequent low cross found Collins a few yards out at the near post, his finish was wide of that near post.
The first 45 minutes were pretty decent on the whole. Though the Royals hadn’t done a huge amount to trouble Southwood and they had faded somewhat, they’d still held their own against a strong side, limiting Bolton to little in the way of quality chances.
Half time: 0-0
The game didn’t massively pick up in the second half until a glorious chance around a quarter of an hour in. Bolton were caught when playing out short from a goal-kick, with a few Reading players swarming the man in possession on the edge of the area. One of them - Campbell - did so well to nick the ball back but couldn’t get it fully under control. Still, the ball deflected goalwards in the ensuing scramble... and was agonisingly cleared off the line.
That moment seemed to inject life into proceedings on and off the pitch, with the home crowd and team both boosted. A previously pretty flat atmosphere was lifted, and Reading reestablished a lot of the tempo and intent which they’d shown earlier in the first half, although Bolton were the next to come close to scoring, rattling the bar with a well-hit free-kick.
Hunt turned to his bench in the 70th minute to add some more attacking quality. Camara and Andre Garcia came off for Kelvins Ehibhatiomhan and Abrefa, meaning an entirely fresh left flank - an area Hunt seems to focus on switching up with his in-game substitutions.
Ehibhatiomhan was soon involved, cutting inside from the left and having a shot blocked, although he could have opted to take his man on and earn a higher-quality chance. Maybe a fitter, sharper Ehibhatiomhan would have done just that - although a fitter, sharper Ehibhatiomhan would likely have started in the first place.
Reading kept knocking on the door. A clever flick from Wareham over the defence almost played in Ehibhatiomhan, while Savage went for goal from range after Southwood fumbled a ball into the box, but couldn’t hit the target.
As the game went into the closing stages, it was impossible to tell how it would turn out. And Collins being played in behind, getting to a one-on-one with Joel Pereira and thankfully putting his finish wide of the near post, was a reminder that the visitors could well seal the points themselves.
Reading - and fortunately the referee - had other ideas though. Wareham’s burst through the middle towards the Bolton area earned a free-kick, which was lofted into the box by Wing... and handled by a Bolton defender. Even that couldn’t be turned down - penalty Reading!
After initially looking like it would be Savage to take responsibility, up stepped Knibbs, who sent Southwood the wrong way for a massive winner and an even bigger sigh of relief from every Reading fan in attendance. 1-0.
The visitors couldn’t conjure up any real scares in the five minutes added on at the end, which were extended due to Pereira going down with some kind of knock that was definitely real, and definitely not a ploy to waste time. Reading actually ended the game with a back three again, removing Campbell for centre-back Louie Holzman, who filled in alongside Tyler Bindon and Harlee Dean.
Full time: 1-0
So a massive win, and one which moves the Royals up to eighth in the table. Reading are actually now level on 44 points with Leyton Orient (sixth), Charlton Athletic (seventh) and Bolton (ninth).
The absolute highest priority though is for Reading to stay in the division, which, given the loss of Smith, has become that bit harder. However, assuming the Royals can avoid the dreaded possibility of a po**ts de***tion this season (you fill in the blanks because I daren’t say it in full), we’re probably now just two wins away from safety.
Next up a trip to Huddersfield Town, who sit fifth in the table, and thankfully this is our final ‘difficult’ (on paper) away game of the season. Every other match on the road after next Saturday is against a side currently in the bottom half of the table.
See you there. URZ!