Noel Hunt’s Mixed Bag Royals struck again today in yet another erratic performance, this time enough for a 1-1 draw at Stockport County. Good, bad, encouraging, frustrating – we saw it all.
Despite the
negative notes from this game (more on those later), it feels as if the positives are finally starting to add up to something more substantial. Something more tangible.
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Ahmed, Burns, Dorsett, Jaxon; Wing, Savage; Lane, Doyle, Kyerwaa; Marriott
Subs: Stevens, Abrefa, Stickland, Elliott, Ritchie, Ehibhatiomhan, O’Mahony
For a start, while Reading’s two other away draws this season have been undeserved (Bolton Wanderers) and disappointing (dropping two points at Wycombe Wanderers), this was neither. The Royals fought back from a goal down to get this 1-1 and can honestly say they showed enough (in the second half at least) for that result to have some justification.
Structurally there are reasons to be cheerful too. The 4-2-3-1, which was debuted last weekend against Leyton Orient and given another go in midweek at Wrexham, just suits the team really nicely.
In the absence of Liam Fraser, Lewis Wing was joined by Charlie Savage in the double pivot, with the latter seemingly a lot happier with the game in front of him. Kamari Doyle was thus essentially freed up to float around in the 10 role.
Whether in the better or worse periods of the game from Reading’s perspective, I instinctively liked the balance of the side. There was another, subtler improvement in the second half when the wingers swapped: Daniel Kyerewaa going to the right and Paddy Lane to the left. More of that please.
And there were real signs in the second half of Reading looking like they knew what they wanted to do in possession: identifiable trends, repeatable actions.
Reading wanted to get the ball out wide and deliver from there – sometimes from deeper spots, other times looking to get to the byline. The wingers (obviously) were involved in that, but so too were the full-backs and on one occasion so too was Wing, getting all the way to the byline from his deep midfield spot.
It was a delivery from second-half substitute Matt Ritchie which got the Royals back on terms though. Having received the ball wide on the right soon after his introduction, Old Father Time sent in a low cross for Jack Marriott to convert from inside the area.
A simple-looking goal yes, but that’s exactly what we want to see. It’s also striking just how different this goal was to the others we’ve tended to score this season: typically longer-range worldies, not the culmination of a clever move.
The downside to all that promise is twofold: we had to wait far too long for improvements to come, and when they did, they weren’t implemented consistently.
The first half was poor. While it wasn’t as bad as other performances we’ve seen this season – much of the second half at Wrexham for example – it wasn’t good enough.
Stockport found it far too easy before the break to keep Reading at arm’s length, with the visitors struggling to get into the hosts’ half.
That wasn’t for want of positivity: Reading definitely intended from the outset to play some football today (rather than being too negative or long-ball) and some ideas stood out. Besides the previously mentioned use of Doyle in the 10 role, employing Matty Jacob as as inverted left-back bore some fruit, with the Hull City loanee able to find space with the ball in midfield numerous times.
But moments of promise were as good as it got really. So little from Reading before the break was sustained or joined-up enough to cause the hosts to break a sweat.
And while the Royals improved notably after the interval, it wasn’t entirely consistent. Stockport still had their moments, still had their spells of dominance, and the Royals sometimes had to rely on poor finishing or fine goalkeeping from Joel Pereira.
Going back to the first half, Stockport’s goal was another indication of how easy it can for the opposition to score against us. Kyle Wootton was the quickest in the box, poking home past Pereira, at the end of a move started when Reading lost the ball in playing out.
It was reminiscent in particular of Wrexham’s opener: a striker (Nathan Broadhead in this case) reacting quickest, with the original attack avoidable.
There’s certainly room for improvement in Reading being far more ruthless and authoritative in stopping attacks at source. For another example: an entirely avoidable corner given away by Jeriel Dorsett right at the beginning of the game.
I’d still say all of that balances out fairly favourably. I don’t expect Reading to play fantastically or win every week, but signs of actual progress – and more importantly signs that Hunt knows how he wants to get that improvement – are vital.
We got those at Stockport. Of course, today’s progress will be for little if we don’t build on this game next weekend when Mansfield come to Town, but I can see how today’s step forward could well lead to another.
