Bristol Rovers 0-2 Reading: Doing Our Part

Second-half goals from Lewis Wing and Chem Campbell meant Reading did their bit in the penultimate part of the playoff race.

It wasn’t pretty, but Reading once again got the job done on the road, in one of the most important away performances of the season. We did all we could to keep pace with Leyton Orient, while for our opposition today, they’ll be ruing the chances that Joel Pereira superbly denied throughout the game that could’ve easily put us to bed.

Reading (4-3-3): Pereira; Rushesha, Mbengue, Bindon, Garcia; Knibbs, Wing, Savage; Campbell, Wareham, Ehibhatiomhan

Subs: Norcott, Yiadom, Stickland, Carroll, Camara, Akande, Bodin

It was an energetic opening for the Royals, as Lewis Wing nicked the ball back brilliantly high and fed in Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan in acres of space down the left. The cutback was quality to Harvey Knibbs and his spurned strike was tipped onto the post by ‘keeper Jed Ward in the opening minute.

Bristol Rovers went straight down the other end, with their winger cutting inside and challenging Pereira with a near-post effort that was comfortably saved. A very exciting and encouraging start in the South West.

The opening five minutes showed that this Reading side came only to win. We looked so hungry to win it back and counter when Rovers were attacking, which we did soon on, creating a chance for Ehibhatiomhan, but his weak-footed effort dribbled wide.

We looked confident on the ball in the final third too, finding the final pass well but not making the most of chances to score. Judging by the BBC Berkshire coverage of the goings-n at Brisbane Road, it seemed like Leyton Orient were in a similar situation early on too.

Inigo Calderon in the home dugout, who was sporting a baseball cap and a denim shirt over a t-shirt like he was part of a 2010s boyband, was getting extremely animated, while Noel Hunt was the picture of calm on the opposite side. However, it was the Spaniard’s team that begin to grow into the game more.

Ruel Sotiriou struck an effort from the edge of the box which was saved well, and the resulting spell of Gas possession continued to catch Reading out somewhat. They had six shots with three on target in the opening 23 minutes, but we held firm and limited the quality of chances effectively.

Right midfielder Jack Hunt found some grass to run into on the wing and exploited an out-of-position Reading defence as he delivered a free header to Sotiriou at the back post. The Cypriot’s effort looped over harmlessly, but Bristol Rovers kept pushing.

Long ball after long ball was delivered into our left channel for Garcia and Tyler Bindon to deal with, forcing many turnovers in favour of the home side, with Hunt fizzing in some dangerous crosses.

They’d made the game scrappy and physical, and were rewarded with a free-kick on the D with 10 minutes left in the half. It was overplayed and wasted, but we still could not get out our own half for love nor money.

Gatlin O’Donkor slammed a close-range volley towards goal which Pereira palmed away brilliantly yet again, and shortly after went down for treatment, not for the first time in the match. The match quickly started to look like one we wanted over as soon as possible - rather than one to enjoy for the players.

Closing into the break, Reading exerted a little more authority onto the game as Ehibhatiomhan beat the offside trap and won us a corner, which came to nothing.

The midfield and attack seemed virtually non-existent after the first 15 or so minutes of the game though, with the only solace we found after that period being clearances that allowed us to temporarily relieve some pressure on our goal.

Half time: 0-0

The break relievedly came at the Memorial Ground with a goalless score at Leyton Orient too. The first-half stats told the story well: Reading had a monumental 31 clearances, while Pereira had the third-most touches of our players. Not quite the dominant performance we could’ve expected against this calibre of opposition.

The second half began with a similar story but without any notable goalscoring chances for either side. The luck was not falling our way here, although it was in East London where Leyton Orient were much the better side. However, like Bristol Rovers here, they couldn’t find the back of the net. Could both away sides ride the wave of attacks and hit back in the final 35 minutes?

It didn’t look likely in Bristol quite yet, as a yellow card was dished out to Mbengue for a foul on the byline, further increasing the pressure on the Reading defence.

Garcia lined one up on the edge of the box following a Knibbs breakaway which was parried just beyond the path of an onrushing Jayden Wareham, and down the other end a fellow 17-year-old Kofi Shaw forced a corner through Charlie Savage’s block.

Pereira made an unbelievable split-second save to turn away a Rovers header from that corner, and a strong punch away just after. Undoubtedly a man-of-the-match performance from the Portuguese 'keeper.

But we did hit back. Reading worked it absolutely brilliantly down the left-hand side: Wing to Garcia, to Ehibhatiomhan, inside to Savage, and a deft touch back into the feet of Wing. Wingy steered the ball right-footed into the near post and the away end erupted. Total football. 1-0 to the Royals, and they had to hold on from here.

As inflatables across the terrace were ballooned into the air in celebration, little did those fans know that, almost simultaneously, Leyton Orient had scored through Randell Williams to bring them level on points. Another twist in the tale of a thrilling afternoon of League One football, and that was only at 2pm.

Garcia went on a mazy run down the left and went for goal as Reading grew into the game after the goal. Two attacking substitutions came for Bristol Rovers and Andy Yiadom was introduced for Rushesha with 15 to play.

Reading lacked the finesse and final ball to extend the lead, but the Gas didn’t offer anything down the other end. The home fans' frustrations audibly grew as their side slid further into the relegation zone.

Wing was teed up by Savage for a grand slam of a shot that was deflected just wide of goal, and only one team looked like creating chances, despite Rovers throwing the kitchen sink at our goal. Scott Sinclair and Grant Ward entered the fray for the final six minutes as Mbengue had a half chance with a header from a corner.

Billy Bodin, who played nearly 100 games for Bristol Rovers across three years, came on for us, and the game began to get frantic in the final moments. Bindon heroically headed the ball off the line in a minute of madness, while Wareham did well to shield the ball and lay it off for Savage’s right-footed shot, just wide of the post down the opposite end.

Both playoff-pushing sides were seemingly hanging on by a thread in added time, and there were seven minutes of stoppage time in each match too.

Bristol Rovers kept gambling, opening up the game a lot more late on. Pereira launched a long ball into Bodin, who brought it down with a brilliant touch. The ball was shifted from side to side into Wing, Knibbs, then Chem Campbell.

The winger’s shot spun into the near post of Ward’s net to surely seal the game, with a matter of seconds remaining at the Mem. 2-0 to Reading, but the most important goal of the day would’ve been one scored in East London.

Full time: 0-2

The full-time whistle blew in Bristol, and a couple of minutes later, Orient’s win was confirmed too. Reading did all they could do, and it will go down to the final day against Barnsley for us to better Orient's result.

But for now, a fantastic win was ground out today against a team fighting for their lives down the wrong end of the table. When it really matters, this team just will not give up, and against all odds, Reading have given themselves an unbelievable chance to get into the playoffs.