Just as it seemed Reading had turned a corner, we get a game that brings us straight back down to earth with a thud.
The Royals had really seemed to be clicking into gear over the festive period, winning four out of the five games from mid-December to early January, but ran into a brick wall at Brisbane Road on Saturday afternoon. While I wouldn’t say this was the worst performance of our season so far, it wasn’t far off.
What made this game easier or harder to swallow, depending on how you look at it,
is the sense of inevitability around some of the key elements. Reading always struggle when playing away at Leyton Orient, always seem to struggle when seeking to maintain momentum after a break in the fixture schedule (I haven’t fact-checked this but it feels right, which will do) and so often concede to former players, but can at least rely on Jack Marriott finding the net.
In the end though, it was the Ghost of Reading Strikers Past who had the better afternoon. By far. It’s unclear how serious the Royals’ summer interest was in bringing back former loanee Dom Ballard, but his ruthless hat-trick put Reading to the sword and will leave a feeling of what might have been.
Then again, only the post denied Ballard from extending his tally to a… quad-trick? Is that the word? Either way, it could have been worse. Silver linings and all that.
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Yiadom, Burns, O’Connor, Dorsett; Wing, Savage; Ritchie, Doyle, Kyerewaa; Marriott
Subs: Stevens, Ahmed, Stickland, Fraser, Lane, Ehibhatiomhan, Keane
Familiar Brisbane Road struggles
Such is my desire to move on from this game as soon as I can, I’m half tempted to copy and paste the match report from the last time we played here. After all, on both occasions Reading struggled to get going and never really built up a convincing passage of momentum, failing to get any control on the match or put the hosts on the back foot.
Orient, to their credit, yet again did an excellent job of restricting us and stopping us from playing. When they were in a position in the second half to benefit from slowing the game down, they were happy to do so.
And barring some good moments – the exceptions which proved the rule, really – Reading’s key creative players weren’t able to properly get into the game and express themselves.
Marriott’s second-half equaliser was one such moment. It was no surprise to see him bury his chance in front of a jubilant away end, but what had come before – Kamari Doyle being able to pick up the ball in midfield (from a Paudie O’Connor quick free-kick), driving forwards and catching the hosts off balance with some proactive, inventive play – was out of keeping with an otherwise blunt attacking performance.
That goal was, aptly, Reading’s only shot on target in the entire game. And it wasn’t as if the Royals were going close with a bunch of threatening but off-target efforts.
At no point did it ever really feel as if the visitors were capable of convincingly raising their game to match Orient. Even when Marriott netted his second-half equaliser, Reading had no higher gear to go into and it was ultimately the home side who re-established control and pulled clear.
That can’t be a fatigue issue, given our break over the FA Cup weekend, nor were there vital first-team players missing. This was after all an unchanged XI from the side that did so well to match Stockport County last time out and nick the game 1-0 late on.
The bottom line is that we came up against a strong side that knows how to play against us – particularly on their turf – and at this point in time, we’re not a good enough side to do much about that. Hopefully that will improve as Reading develop further under Leam Richardson and more players come into the picture (whether returning from injury or being signed), but we’re not there yet.
Richardson should take his own share of blame, however. Swapping Matt Ritchie for Liam Fraser on the hour mark – before moving Charlie Savage to the right wing – was an ineffective and overly negative way to react to the equaliser. Savage isn’t an advanced midfielder, let alone a right-winger.
His double change 13 minutes later was similarly odd. Doyle (the creator of Reading’s one shot on target) and Savage went off for Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and debutant Will Keane. Bringing on either individually wasn’t the issue, but introducing both meant the Royals were left with three centre-forwards on the pitch and not enough creativity in the middle of the park. It looked like a switch to 3-4-3 at that point but I couldn’t be sure.
On a brighter note, we did see the return of Paddy Lane, who came on for Finley Burns. I’ve been eager to see him back in action as, despite his poor form before injury, he’s a proven attacking player at this level. Even though he only managed a cameo from the 84th minute onwards, hopefully he can now kick on.
Ballard again, again, and again
Orient would have been worthy winners regardless of the performance of their star striker, but still, he ruthlessly punished a slack Reading defence. He’s up to 15 goals for the season now, and as I said to an Orient fan in the annoyingly long wait to get into Leyton tube station after the game, if they don’t go up, Championship sides will surely come calling for Ballard.
And as a general point, putting the frustrations of today to one side for a moment, I’m happy he’s doing well. Ballard was showing glimpses of quality at Reading both up top and on the left wing before suffering a horrible long-term injury at Adams Park, so he’s more than earned a good season.
Back to today’s game, and from Reading’s point of view, defensive frailties were efficiently capitalised on by a gleeful Ballard. Not once but three times.
Finley Burns couldn’t get quite tight enough to him for the opener, which broke the Royals’ unconvincing but stubborn first-half resistance just before the break. Ballard then found space between O’Connor and Jeriel Dorsett to head home Orient’s second, and found it far too easy to get past an isolated Dorsett before firing past Joel Pereira.
To illustrate the gulf between the two teams though, I can’t help but feel that even Ballard in that kind of form wouldn’t have made much of a difference if he’d been playing for us today. He was afforded the opportunity to get that hat-trick by Orient’s creativity and Reading’s porous defence, while his counterpart, Marriott, was feeding off scraps all afternoon.
Perspective
The good thing about a bad result and poor performance coming in a fixture that’s always a struggle is that you can at least pass it off as ‘one of those days’. Andy Taylor on Twitter was right to point out that Orient are, along with Lincoln City, one of our bogey teams at this level.
This interpretation of today’s game will only hold so long as Reading put this match to one side and improve significantly next time out. If the Royals can do that (and it will need to be a significant improvement), today will go down as a blip. Even very good teams are allowed a blip, and Reading are most certainly not a very good team. Not yet, anyway.
Lucky then that we’re not now due to host a team that’s scored seven across their previous two visits to the SCL.
