In many ways, today was the biggest game of the season for Reading.
I am mindful that I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot, but when you view this through the lens of the negativity that has emanated towards Leam Richardson after the Easter weekend’s failings, it was imperative that Reading served up not only a comfortable win, but also a good performance to arrest the slide and give the fans – over 1,000 of whom travelled the lengthy distance to Doncaster – some confidence that we are heading
in the right direction. This turned out to be a case of famous last words.
There were some positives in the starting XI to indicate that Richardson saw an opportunity here today too. Kadan Young was handed a rare start, for example, coming onto the left wing. Having a left-winger also indicated that Reading went for a change of shape today, going from the defensive 3-4-2-1 set-up we have seen in recent weeks to a more traditional 4-2-3-1 shape.
This meant Daniel Kyerewaa moved out to the right and Charlie Savage took the number 10 role. No surprises elsewhere on the pitch, with Derrick “Dez” Williams making a return to the fold after a short injury layoff.
The bench had a couple of treats too, with Andy Rinomhota featuring there once again, and Matt Ritchie making a return. Personally, I’d have liked to have seen Haydon Roberts starting over Jeriel Dorsett. Although Dorsett’s been fine recently, having a more attack-minded left-back would have even nice.
Also, Will Keane featuring on the bench again didn’t inspire any confidence. You do have to wonder what Sean Patton has done to upset Richardson so much.
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Nyambe, O’Connor, Dez Williams, Dorsett; Wing, Fraser; Kyerewaa, Savage, Young; Ehibhatiomhan
Subs: Stevens, Burns, Roberts, Rinomhota, Ritchie, Lane, Keane
First half
The conditions were gusty and Reading started the game playing into the wind, so with the pace available out wide, this game seemed primed to allow Reading to have a quick start against a side who are still looking over their shoulder at relegation. However, the word “seemed” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
Why? Because Doncaster Rovers started well, on the front foot and putting Reading under pressure. In fact, for the majority of the first half, they were the team who looked more confident and capable, a team with a clear plan.
From Reading’s side, it’s like, after the players were hung out to dry on Monday, Richardson forgot to bring them indoors when the rain started, and they just seemed so damp, soggy and unenthused.
Things we take for granted were missing: there were a lot of poor touches from midfielders giving away the ball carelessly and even Paudie O’Connor missed a couple of early headers too.
To pause a moment from the “events” unfolding on the pitch, it’s worth noting a significant moment in the game that didn’t involve anything related to the match. Going into the 18th minute, a 60-second applause from the fans started to remember a young Doncaster Rovers fan, Keigan Vickerage, who had sadly passed away.
The ref even stopped the game during this applause from all supporters, which was a classy touch for a poignant moment. It’s always healthy to have a reminder that football – while important – simply is the most important of the unimportant things.
Reading hinted at something occasionally during the first half: a Lewis Wing ball forward to Long Kelvin in the 14th minute, which was unable to find him, and the Royals were unlucky not to win a corner in the 15th minute, after Young pressed high to try to win the ball from a Doncaster defender.
Normal proceedings resumed when pinball unfolded in the Reading box in the 21st minute, and we struggled to clear. Eventually the Royals, but Dorsett did slice the clearance out of the stadium.
Liam Fraser played a great little through ball to Long Kelvin in the 24th minute, after Savage found him in space. However, Long Kelvin was flagged offside after not quite timing his run correctly. A shame, but at least positive to see the first meaningful attack of the game. One of disparagingly few.
There was an excellent, low Wing free-kick in the 33rd minute from the left-hand side which caught everyone out, Reading and Doncaster alike, and was cleared only to the edge of the box. Savage hit a good effort at goal, which was blocked in front of the line by the Doncaster player.
Reading fans behind the goal vociferously called for a handball, but the referee didn’t award anything. On further review, this seemed to be a let-off for Doncaster.
Almost ironically, Savage picked up a yellow card in the 38th minute for a handball after going down under pressure from a two-on-one situation. The subsequent free-kick led to nothing.
Doncaster remained the dominant side seeing out the first half, and the only notable moments for those of a Reading persuasion were a good Fraser cross in the 43rd minute from deep left that went to the back post, but it was unable to find a Reading player, and a muddle-up between O’Connor and Joel Pereira on the right-hand edge of the area which led to the Doncaster attacker nipping in to intercept the ball from a O’Connor header in the direction of Pereira, which fortunately didn’t get punished.
This was about as uneventful a first half as possible, and indeed, so little had happened in these 45 minutes that only one of added time was given.
Half time: 0-0
However, there’s always a second half to go. A team talk to put some energy into the side, make the necessary tweaks and get the boys firing on all cylinders.
Richardson, though, seemed to be watching a different game altogether and subbed off Savage and Young for Matt Ritchie (to play on the right wing – Kyerewaa moving over to the left to accommodate) and Will Keane (to play as the 10).
Of course he did. Because we all know how successful that’s been. Weary sigh. It’s genuinely like Richardson is becoming a parody of himself. At this stage, I was considering putting money on Reading conceding a 96th-minute goal.
Doncaster almost immediately found a route to goal from the word go but fluffed their lines. They continued the second half as they left off the first, attacking Reading and looking like they had an interest in the game. Almost immediately after this, an offside call prevented Reading conceding.
Then the moment that has been in the post for the entire game finally arrived. Doncaster made a break down Reading’s right, with the Rovers winger’s pace and directness catching Ryan Nyambe flat-footed. The ball was driven to the line and cut inside and somehow, instead one of many Reading players ball-watching in the box getting a touch to clear it away, a stretching Doncaster player was able to poke the ball into the back of the net. 1-0.
In a rare moment when Reading found their way past the halfway line – because we all know the way to respond to going a goal down is to camp deep in your own half – Long Kelvin received a long ball in the Doncaster box and did well to use his strength to forge a shooting opportunity, but wasn’t able to get a shot away.
In some positive news, Andy Rinomhota finally returned, coming on for Fraser in the 65th minute, with Roberts also coming on for Nyambe (who was having a horrible half – just moments before this, he had miscontrolled a two-yard Ritchie pass and let the ball roll out for a throw-in).
The changes also suggested a change of shape, moving Reading to a 3-4-2-1. The back three were O’Connor, Dez w and Dorsett, with Roberts playing left-wing-back and Kyerewaa as a right-wing-back, with Keane and Ritchie behind Long Kelvin.
There was a moment around the 74th minute when you really had to question the coaching that’s occurring on the training ground. Our left-wing-back (Roberts) found himself on the right-hand touchline, two metres apart from our right-wing-back (Kyerewaa). How on earth is that allowed to happen?
Roberts won a free-kick in the 77th minute, with Ritchie delivering it from the left-hand side and finding O’Connor at the back post. However, symptomatic of his day, O’Connor wasn’t able to direct the header on target.
In the 79th minute, Reading finally had an effort on target. Dez Williams played a long, low pass from the halfway line to find Long Kelvin on the edge of the box, who played the ball across to Ritchie, who had a shot on target. Almost immediately after this, Roberts got down the left and put a good cross into the box which found Kyerewaa, whose header was blocked out for a corner.
Ritchie’s well taken corner found Dorsett at the back post, but the shot was blocked. This spell was the best Reading had played all game by quite some margin, and yet all we had done was made a couple of crosses and efforts at goal, only one of which was on target. That’s how low the bar was.
Reading made their final change, with Dorsett subbed off for Paddy Lane in the 82nd minute. Richardson seems to have this very strange habit of bringing on Roberts in one position, and then after 10 or so minutes, pushing him deeper with another change.
This alteration put Lane at left-wing-back and Roberts at left-sided centre-half. Given Lane’s struggles, and Roberts eagerness to get down the line, this seemed a strange change to make in order to get a goal back.
Reading had a real heart-in-mouth moment in the 85th minute. A poor corner routine saw Wing roll the ball to Ritchie on the left edge of the Doncaster area, but before the ball could reach Ritchie, a Doncaster player nipped in to intercept the ball and leg it up the pitch.
It was a three-on-one situation in favour of Doncaster, yet somehow, when Rovers got into the box and got a shot away, Pereira was more than equal to it and saved Reading’s bacon with an excellent stop. We should have gone 2- 0 down, and make no mistake about it, we couldn’t have had any complaints.
Reading followed this up with Williams getting a half shot off in the six-yard box and Kyerewaa miscuing a half-volley outside the area to send it high and wide. Not long after this, Reading fans already started making their way towards the exit and it was hard to fault them.
This performance, along with so many other recent ones, inspired no confidence that this side could impose anything positive on the game.
Five extra minutes were added on. So, trying to take the little positive out of this game where possible, at least we couldn’t concede a goal in the 96th minute.
However, we damn near did concede a goal in the 91st minute when a Doncaster attacker got through the middle of the Reading defence all too easily, but Pereira again was excellent and made a great stop with his legs. He was undeniably the only Reading player to leave the game with any credit.
Keane nipped into the box to receive a great Kyerewaa cross at the death of the game. Either he mishit it well over the bar – the ref seemed to think so, and so did I – or the Doncaster defender got a touch from behind him to deflect it over. The game was brought to a conclusion just after this.
Full time: 1-0
This is a Doncaster side that was fighting the threat of relegation and they should have taken a 3-0 win away today, after outplaying us for the entirety of the game. Indeed, not just outplaying, but generally just seeming much more interested in even playing at all.
It was so bad, even Phil Catchpole commentating on the game for RoyalsTV felt obliged to apologise for the performance. If this doesn’t tell you the depths of the issues that we are facing as a team right now, then you must be a board member at Reading, given their apparent keen nature towards backing a hapless Richardson.
Today was a disaster of a performance, and some serious questions need to be asked about the direction this club is heading in.
We’ve seen some terrible displays over the years (I still remember the Paul Ince days) and this feels somehow worse than even anything served up in that era, given how uninspired the tactics, set-up and players seemed. That should re-emphasise the magnitude of the current problem.
This was as poor a response as possible to Easter, when today needed to be a benchmark for the future. Something needs to change.
