Joel Pereira: 6
Couldn’t do anything for the first goal and I honestly don’t recall him having to do anything in the rest of the half.
Made a couple of saves in the second, the highlight of which was in the 73rd minute when he protected his near post with his legs.
Generally not called upon often – only two Bradford shots on target – as the visitors largely seemed happy to sit back and take the point.
Udoka Godwin-Malife: 6
Caught out by a quick pass on the right that led to the cross which led to Bradford’s goal in the first half. This
is a continuous issue and it is little wonder that Bradford sought to exploit this.
However, Dokes scored his first goal for the club by positioning himself well on the edge of the box to catch a loose ball from a Williams throw (which took a bit of a deflection off Brown) and smashed it into the goal in order to redeem himself slightly.
Paudie O’Connor: 6
Pulled out to cover Dokes on the right, who was too slow to stop the pass, but O’Connor was too slow and/or unable to block the quick cross that led to Bradford’s first goal.
This was clearly part of the game plan from Bradford to exploit a known issue – the frustration here is that O’Connor should be reading the game better and not allowing the Bradford attacker the freedom of Reading to get the cross in. He had to get closer to the man before the pass was even played to start with.
Largely untroubled in the second half and throughout the game, O’Connor provided a real threat from set pieces (nine corners and 21 free-kicks gave him plenty of opportunity to make himself known) and was perhaps unfortunate that one of his attacking headers didn’t lead to something.
Benn Ward: 5
Lost the Bradford attacker for the header that resulted in their first goal – this is a persistent problem that seems to hurt us, where Ward is losing those crucial runners from crosses. Yes, the root cause of the issue is letting the crosses happen, but I’d love to see the stats about how many headers Ward wins from wide crosses.
Anyway, not much to note after this as Bradford, despite a spell after Reading’s equaliser, didn’t really trouble us and seemed content with seeing out the game for a point (as mentioned earlier).
Haydon Roberts: 6
Great run down the left in the first minute, beating a couple of Bradford players and finding Lane, and blocked a shot well by throwing his body at the ball on the edge of the box in the 10th minute.
The left side of the pitch today was rarely threatened from an attacking perspective, so credit where it is due there for Roberts. However, he does seem to drastically fade after half-time. However, during the second half, he did put in a delightful right-footed cross.
Subbed off for Randell Williams in the 60th minute, which nudged Lane into left-back.
Lewis Wing: 6
The first half today was probably Wing’s best half of football for Reading this season – make of that what you will.
Highlights of the first half were when Wing showed quick feet on the edge of the Bradford area and fooled the defence into thinking he would shoot in the 20th minute – unfortunately, this also fooled Lane, who was fed a through ball he wasn’t ready for.
Wing also made his best shot of the season in the 22nd minute, after the Lisbie run, which the Bradford ‘keeper had to be alert for to stop it going into the top corner.
Quieter second half but made a crucial defensive block in the 88th minute. Against a team lower in the league, today could have seen some kind of goal contribution from Wing, so credit goes to the level of performance delivered by a good Bradford side today to prevent that.
Andy Rinomhota: 6
Worked hard for the team but seemed to be targeted by Bradford – picked up a number of knocks and fouls which restricted his influence on proceedings further up the pitch.
Subbed off for Liam Fraser in the 60th minute – possibly linked to the travel he had to do to be involved today, but he also was on a yellow card.
Kyreece Lisbie: 6
I know I’m going to come in for pelters here, but hear me out.
Yes, he was a threat. Yes, he showed moments of quality (more on this in a moment). And yes, he was closer to a 7/10 than a 6/10 BUT he still did not do quite enough to get that 7/10. Why? End product, folks.
This is handily (for the purposes of this rating, not so much the outcome of the game) summarised in a moment of play in the 21st minute: Lisbie made a great run down the right, skipping past the Bradford defenders to get into the box – fantastic. However, this was followed by playing a high cross (into Rinomhota, I think) when he should have put a low cross in. The low cross could have seen us get a goal, but we’ll never know.
Other highlights of the game were a shot from a tight angle on the right that hit the side netting in the third minute, a classic Lisbie run in the 14th minute (but denied by an excellent tackle) and crosses he delivered for a Lane header in the 30th minute and in the 70th minute, which nearly found Reid.
Subbed off for Daniel Kyerewaa in the 84th minute, which, admittedly, didn’t make a huge amount of sense at the time and still doesn’t.
Josh Stokes: 6
I really liked what Stokes delivered today – his game is very similar to George Earthy’s and that is no bad thing at all.
My two favourite moments from Stokes today were at opposite ends of the game, firstly when Stokes won possession high up the pitch to stop a Bradford counter in the sixth minute and secondly a brilliant ball to find Kyerewaa breaking down the left in the 86th minute, which he followed up with a bursting run through the centre.
Stokes generally knitted play together well to link attacks or drift out wide to get a cross in and put a real shift in today, so much so, I’d argue this could be his best league performance for us so far this season.
Paddy Lane: 6
Much like Lisbie on the right, Lane was a constant presence on the left today, with driving runs forward, linking play to move the ball quickly up the pitch and being able to deliver good crosses or win us a corner. Also much like Lisbie, it just lacked that end product that could deliver us a goal or goal contribution.
This continued throughout the second half, until he was moved to left-back when Roberts was subbed off. I have a lot of thoughts about this but I didn’t agree with it (better Williams or Ashqar Ahmed to go there) and we missed his presence higher up on the left when he was dropped back, but coped well enough with the positional change.
Jacob Brown: 5
Looked busy all game but really struggled with the final ball or providing a cutting edge. His best moment was, unfortunately, accidental, when he couldn’t control a Williams throw-in and his loose touch found its way to Dokes to smash the ball in.
If you’re asking me – which I know you’re not but I’ll write it anyway – it felt like Richardson played this one wrong.
We needed Jamie Reid to start the game and use his strength and force of will to wear down that Bradford defence, then for Brown to come on and use his running and graft to break down/stretch a tired back line. This way around, Brown just wasn’t able to make an impact.
Subbed off for Jamie Reid in the 68th minute.
Subs
Randell Williams: 5
Subbed on for Roberts in the 60th minute, going to the left wing, with Lane dropping into the left-back position. Provided the assist (more or less) for Dokes’ equaliser but just wasn’t able to replicate the impact Lane was having on that left, let alone exceed it.
Provided a frustrating moment with a really bad cross in the 92nd minute that put the ball well out of play, which was Reading’s meaningful attack.
Liam Fraser: 6
Subbed on for Rinomhota in the 60th minute. A very typical Fraser performance, which means he just quietly went about his business and made a few tidy passes.
Jamie Reid: 5
Subbed on for Brown in the 68th minute. Nearly got on the end of a Lisbie cross but for an excellent catch from the Bradford ‘keeper. Otherwise, I don’t think he had any impact but, as mentioned for Brown, I think this was because he would have been more effective starting the game than finishing it.
Daniel Kyerewaa: N/A
Subbed on for Kyreece Lisbie in the 84th minute. Kyerewaa made a fantastic breaking run in the 86th to get down the left and into the Bradford box, but instead of playing in the onrushing Williams, he tried to take the shot and wasted the chance.
So… he’s very much the player we all still remember from last year.
Average: 5.71/10
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