It’s a somewhat cruel twist of fate that Reading’s best goal of pre-season wasn’t witnessed by more people in real time. The lack of a live stream meant only a relatively modest number of Loyal Royals in attendance saw one heck of a finish from Boyd Beacroft to win tonight’s game at Crawley Town (though you can see the goal here).
A loose pass from the goalkeeper in the 81st minute found centre-back Beacroft, who expertly and instinctively lofted the ball into an empty net from the halfway line. Cue
wild celebrations in the away end (acceptable in the circumstances, regardless of it being a pre-season friendly) which were soon joined by Beacroft himself, charging over to the visiting fans and knee-sliding for good measure.
There’s a fair amount to unpack from this game, but let’s stop on that moment for a bit. That was one mightily special experience for Beacroft, a graduate of Reading’s academy, and I’m so very happy for him. You can’t fake the raw emotion he unleashed in celebrating the goal, you really can’t.
As for the game overall, this was another step forward for Reading, albeit in a few different ways to previous matches.
For a starter, this was much more clearly a ‘second XI’ night. Leam Richardson’s rotated between players heavily in pre-season so far, making wholesale changes to the side in the 60th minute in the last two games, but tonight he just went with his B team, which looked like this:
Reading (4-2-3-1): Stevens; Ahmed, Beacroft, Duah, Roberts; Fraser, Savage; Williams, Sackey, Lane; Jones
Subs: Rowley, Harrison, Spencer, Howard, Osho, Dashi
(Dashi is Matteo Dashi, a 19-year-old attacking player who signed for the under-21s earlier today from Crystal Palace on a two-year deal. As did Torin Ntege, who agreed a one-year deal after moving from West Bromwich Albion.)
That commitment to this being a ‘second XI’ night gave the match a slightly different dynamic to before, one of Richardson essentially telling these players: “You’re not in my first team right now, but if you impress in games such as this one, that could change.”
And some players most certainly did that. Besides match-winner Beacroft, who otherwise looked assured in defence, right-sided players Ashqar Ahmed and Randell Williams were the most obvious standouts. Emmanuel Osho also had a bright evening as Reading’s second-half left-winger, and though he didn’t add to his two goals at Newport County on Tuesday night, Jerae Jones looked lively up top.
I’ve found myself bringing up wide players (full-backs and wingers) a few times this week. Although it makes for somewhat repetitive articles, it’s a clear sign of a team knowing what it wants to do tactically when you can not only raise the same positive each game, but also apply that to different players.
After all, remember that this wasn’t Reading’s first-choice pairing down the right flank. Udoka Godwin-Malife (presumably not injured after all, given Ahmed’s involvement today) and Kyreece Lisbie have some strong competition for places – not a bad problem for Richardson to have at all.
Outside individual performers, the Royals were collectively good tonight too. Not perfect – Crawley had some good spells and put pressure on at times, especially in the second half – but Reading adapted as the game evolved and handled whatever was thrown at them.
Given that this was a young side (which only got younger with substitutions), that’s even more creditable. Beacroft stood tall with centre-back partner Philip Duah, leaving ‘keeper Jack Stevens with only one eye-catching bit of shot-stopping to do.
First half
The first 45 minutes were alright from a Reading perspective, the Royals looking the better side and creating some chances, but not really working the ‘keeper all that much.
The closest the visitors came was on the half-hour mark. Jones’ cross from the left eventually came to Liam Fraser on the edge of the area, whose shot was straight at the goalie.
Otherwise, Ahmed and Duah both had harmless headers, Williams’ acrobatic attempt to convert a left-wing cross didn’t connect with the ball, Charlie Savage saw a shot from range blocked and Paddy Lane did manage to have the ball in the net… but not without the linesman’s flag going up for offside.
Down the other end, the home side managed the best opportunity of half with around 23 minutes on the clock. Duah was beaten in the middle of the pitch, with a Crawley forward charging in behind to yield a one-on-one chance. Though he beat Stevens with his finish, he beat the far post too.
Otherwise, Stevens didn’t have a lot of work to do before the break.
Half time: 0-0
Richardson made one change at the interval, presumably a pre-planned one. Roberts, having returned from injury to play the first 45 minutes, came off for Osho, meaning left-winger Lane retreated to left-back.
Not long after the restart, Reading were (perhaps) denied a lead by the lack of goalline technology. Fraser swung in a free-kick from a deep position on the right flank, meeting the boot of Ahmed, who slammed goalwards. The ‘keeper appeared to carry the ball over the line (the away fans appealed as such anyway), but the officials didn’t give the goal.
The Royals’ second change of the evening was the introduction of Luke Howard for Tyler Sackey – a straight swap in the 10 role after 52 minutes. That substitution coincided with the start of Reading’s best spell of the game, but I’d put the swing in fortunes more down to an increasing ability to get the full-backs forward, with Ahmed (and to a lesser extent Lane) becoming more influential going forwards at this point.
Reading increasingly boxed the hosts in over the next 10 minutes and Jones was the first to have a sight of goal. With the Royals winning possession in the final third, he looked for a shooting opportunity from range a few times, eventually working one, but it was blocked.
Then came a trio of opportunities for Osho, of varying difficulty, all of which however would have been converted with some more ruthlessness. First, Howard played the ball over for the young winger’s run into space in behind on the counter, but the move was slightly delayed and the defender got across to cover.
Soon after, Osho was in again, thanks to a clever pass from Jones. This time it was a purer one-on-one chance but the ‘keeper was able to get out quickly to smother. Then came the best opening of the bunch, Osho racing through on goal but denied by an excellent stop, the ball tipped wide for a corner.
That was as good as it got for Reading going forwards (until the goal, anyway). A double swap on 68 minutes went some way towards denting our momentum: Jones replaced by Shay Spencer (who went into the 10 role with Howard going up top) and Sam Harrison coming on for Duah at left-centre-back.
Crawley increasingly applied pressure from there, pushing Reading onto the back foot, but lacked the quality in the final third to really open us up and create quality opportunities. And with the game seemingly looking like heading towards an anticlimactic 0-0, Beacroft popped up in the 81st minute with that excellent goal for 0-1.
There was time for two last developments. With three minutes to go, Dashi made his first Reading appearance as a straight swap for Williams down the right flank. Shortly after, Stevens secured the win (and his clean sheet) with an excellent stop on a powerful header.
Full time: 0-1
A one-goal win against a League Two side (no disrespect to Crawley) isn’t the most obviously impressive of results, but it’s still another plus in what’s been a strong pre-season for Reading so far. And regardless of the opposition, some great positives came through which will be hugely pleasing for Richardson:
- A consistent and effective style of play, with Reading’s full-backs and wingers providing quality out wide
- Three wins in a row
- Three clean sheets in a row
- Some players making clear cases to the manager that they’re worth being in contention for first-team action (Ahmed and Williams mainly)
Now onto tomorrow’s rearranged fixture against Charlton Athletic – unfortunately to be played behind closed doors at The Valley, due to Reading’s pitch not being ready just yet. You’d expect the XI to look something like this:
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Godwin-Malife, O’Connor, Ward, Dorsett; Wing, Rinomhota; Lisbie, Stokes, Kyerewaa; Brown
That’s not a bad side to be putting out, and hopefully it’ll be good enough to secure a good result in the final pre-season friendly of Reading’s summer.
