Reading Women secured their third league win on the bounce with a 2-1 victory over Oxford City at Arbour Park, Slough on Thursday evening. Second-half strikes from Ellie Szekeres and Ellie Manners put the Royals into a deserved lead before a late goal from City’s Grace Craven set up a nervy finish in a match Reading had dominated throughout.
Reading have grown in strength consistently and this result confirms their place as the in-form team over the second half of the season.
The Royals now sit top
of the statistics table (over the last 10 league matches), above AFC Portchester on goal difference, with seven wins, two draws and only one defeat. During that time Reading have notched up 32 goals, with the best defensive record too, having only conceded five in this period.
So it was great to see Reading directors Rick Catania and Alec Lundberg both at the match last night, standing on the sidelines and cheering on the team, in among the Royals faithful. During the recent podcast with Ben and Ross, Rob Couhig spoke of his absolute trust in both Rick and Alec and their commitment and ability to growing Reading Women, with some exciting news for fans to follow soon.
After a top-four finish in 2024/25, the visitors have struggled with consistency and look like they will end this season in the bottom half of the table, currently sitting in seventh place.
Although City’s season has been erratic, they arrived at Arbour Park in similar good form to Reading: undefeated in their last four league matches, including an impressive 1-0 victory over second-placed Winchester City Flyers (who are still in contention for the top spot).
Oxford’s top goalscorer Ellie White was included in the starting XI. She’s in prolific form, having grabbed a brace against Badshot Lea in their last league match, taking her total for the season to 17 goals.
After being able to name an unchanged team on Sunday, Reading manager Ed Jackson-Norris made just two alterations to the team that demolished Fleet Town 8-0 last time out. With Ava Broke-Smith unavailable, Nat Cowell started up front for the Royals, with Lucy Bolitho in midfield and wearing the captain’s armband. Mia Parker was named among the substitutes.
Dual-registered players Tyra Wilson (Swindon Town) and Belle Rowden (Oxford United) were both back in the squad after their celebrations with their parent teams last weekend.
Team: Sophie Butler (GK), Bethan Poole (Belle Rowden, 45’), Sarah Thompson, Keziah Banduka, Jazz King (Lucy Bolitho, 82’), Lucy Bolitho (captain) (Mia Parker, 66’), Ellie Szekeres, Poppy Whitburn, Keren Banduka (Tyra Wilson, 70’), Nat Cowell (Ellie Manners, 70’), Tia Johnson (Georgia Hayes, 70’)
Reading goalscorers: Ellie Szekeres, 76’; Ellie Manners, 81’
Oxford City goalscorer: Grace Craven, 88’
Reading yellow cards: Tyra Wilson 79’; Ellie Szekeres, 87’
Oxford City yellow cards: None
Reading red cards: None
Oxford City red cards: None
First half
Similar to previous weeks, the Royals set up in a 3-5-2 formation and were on the front foot from kick-off. Some early pressure from Cowell created an opening for Boiltho, her shot going just inches over the crossbar. It was the perfect start.
Although Reading dominated the opening 45 minutes, it was a frustrating start for the hosts, who were up against a dogged Oxford City side, with goalkeeper Hannah Gerrow pulling off a couple of great saves.
Reading dominated the corner count too with five in total, against just the one for City, with Thompson’s header the closest the Royals came to capitalising on their pressure – her header just wide of the post.
It looked like Johnson was going to add to her tally of recent goals after Szekeres had put the striker through, but Oxford’s ‘keeper had other ideas, pulling off a fantastic save, diving to her right to palm the ball away for another Reading corner.
A great bit of skill from Szekeres allowed Johnson to set up a shot for Bolitho, who was once again denied by Gerrow, with another good save.
Half time: 0-0
There was one change at half-time by Jackson-Norris – a defensive switch of personnel – with the introduction of Rowden for the hard-working Poole.
In a similar position to where the first half left off, Reading continued to huff and puff, firing in a couple of long-range efforts and winning another early corner, but just lacking the power, accuracy and clear-cut chance to break the deadlock.
The Reading substitutes bench is a powerful weapon in Jackson-Norris’ arsenal and, on 70 minutes, he utilised this to great advantage once again. On came Hayes, Wilson and Manners to reinvigorate the attack, with Cowell, Keren Banduka and Johnson all leaving the field to deserved applause after putting in a great shift.
And the plan worked. Again. The freshness of Hayes was too much for City’s defence down the Reading left with Szekeres the beneficiary, providing a super finish, slotting the ball home from the tightest of angles for a deserved lead and much to the relief of the fans, coaching team and players alike. 1-0.
Just five minutes later it looked liked the job had been completed when the Royals doubled their lead. Again, pressure from Hayes found Szekeres, her sublime pass was played to Manners, and her bullet of a shot gave Gerrow no chance in the Oxford goal. 2-0.
Reading were in complete control, Hayes coming close to a third when her shot looped just wide of the post, before a surprise late goal gave a bit of hope and unexpected momentum to the visitors.
A long-range free-kick from City’s Hermione Prescott-Luke crashed against the crossbar, with Oxford captain Craven in the right place and quickest to react, poking the ball into the net from close range. 2-1.
It was probably tenser in the stands than on the pitch with the referee adding on what ended up being (there’s no ‘light board’ to denote how long) an astonishing 10 minutes of additional time. To be fair, about three of those seemed to be played out near the City corner flag with Hayes and Wilson executing the short-corner routine to maximum effect.
Full time: 2-1
It’s a result which has lifted Reading into third place, above Southampton on goal difference, with AFC Portchester five points behind but with three games in hand.
And with no match over the weekend, it’s AFC Portchester who are Reading’s next opponents, back at Arbour Park, next Wednesday evening (May 6, 19:45). The visitors are maybe still in with a chance of winning the title, depending on the outcome of their match against Winchester City Flyers on Sunday.
See you there!
Remaining fixtures
- Reading vs AFC Portchester: Arbour Park, Wednesday May 6, 19:45 kick-off
- Fleet Town vs Reading: the Royals’ training centre on the outdoor 3G pitch (behind the Dome), Sunday May 10, 14:00 kick-off
League standings
- Wycombe Wanderers: 45 points from 20 matches
- Winchester City Flyers: 40 points from 18 matches
- Reading: 36 points from 18 matches
- Southampton Women: 36 points from 19 matches
- AFC Porchester: 31 points from 15 matches
- Beaconsfield Town: 29 points from 19 matches
- Oxford City: 22 points from 17 matches
- Fleet Town: 19 points from 17 matches
- Sholing: 12 points from 17 matches
- Woodley United: 7 points from 17 matches
- Badshot Lea: 4 points from 19 matches
