THE MATCH
Rovers are still looking for their second away win of the 2024/25 campaign after this narrow loss at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, formerly known as the Madejski Stadium.
Manager Matt Taylor made two changes to his starting XI after the midweek win against Shrewsbury Town, with Grant Ward and Clinton Mola coming in for Jamie Lindsay and Lino Sousa.
The home side went close to taking a 19th minute lead but Josh Griffiths made a fine save from Harvey Knibbs, who saw another effort blocked by a packed Rovers defence.
However, the best chance of the half fell to Taylor’s side when, around the half hour mark, Scott Sinclair’s pass found Ruel Sotiriou in space down the left. He raced clear, but with only goalkeeper Joel Pereira to beat he hit his shot just wide of the upright.
Promise Omochere was injured and replaced by Isaac Hutchinson two minutes before the break and Reading then thought they had scored when Sam Smith chipped the ball over Griffiths and into the net, but the effort was ruled out as the striker was in an offside position.
Rovers’ task was made that much harder when, on 55 minutes, Shaq Forde picked up a yellow card for kicking the ball away after a free kick had been awarded against him. He had already been booked in the first half and so received the inevitable red.
Shortly after play resumed, following an injury to Griffiths, Reading scored what proved to be the only goal of the afternoon when Ben Elliott’s through ball found Smith and he calmly found the back of the net.
To their credit the ten men took the game to Reading and caused them a few anxious moments before the 90 minutes were up. Clinton
Mola, a former Reading player, saw his powerful shot touched away by Pereira.
The keeper made another save from Mola in stoppage time, touching the ball behind and with every Rovers player, including Griffiths, up for the resulting corner Pereira somehow managed to keep out Taylor Moore’s close range attempt.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘I’m incredibly proud of that group of players, certainly in terms of that second half performance. We were OK in the first half but made a few mistakes which allowed them chances, and the little bit of momentum they gained from that allowed them to get their tails up.
The red card mistake is one that doesn’t need to happen. There’s a football aspect and then there’s a personality and character aspect, which we do need to improve on. Forde will learn from it and in a hard way.
‘All of a sudden we gained a little bit of control in that final ten minute period and the belief and the forward play grew and we were peppering their goal. But for incredible saves from their goalkeeper and goalmouth scrambles I’d be standing here with the biggest smile on my face and a deserved point.’ (Rovers manager Matt Taylor)
It’s a tough one; I think the boys fought really well and we left it all on the pitch. Before going down to ten men we were well in the game. We were pushing, and the goal was coming.
‘When the red card did happen, we pushed them until the end. On another day, we get one goal or even two. But everyone fought hard and, at the end of the day, it’s a performance to be proud of.
‘With regard to my shot, I couldn’t have hit it any sweeter and it’s unlucky that it didn’t go in. We’ve just got to move forward and look to the next one now. We have a couple of cup games now to focus on and then we are back in the league for Lincoln City, but I feel our attention shifts to the cup game to try to gain momentum.’ (Rovers defender Clinton Mola)
‘The performance was good today. We controlled the game from the very beginning and scored the goal after they had a man sent off. They were more direct in the last ten minutes and we should have controlled the ball a bit better.
‘In the final lines we have Joel Pereira on the pitch and it’s three points and a clean sheet for us, showing we are a competitive and difficult team to beat.
‘I expect us to control the game a little bit better, especially at the end. But we defended as a team and had a goalkeeper whose job is to keep the ball out of the net, and he did that today.’ (Reading manager Ruben Selles)
