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Club Focus - Reading - Closer each day, Home and Away
With two tough away matches scheduled for the next few days, Reading made the most of their fourth straight home league game by making it 12 points out of 12 at the Madejski Stadium.
A hard-fought meeting with Queens Park Rangers looked set to end up goalless with both teams frustrated by a set of near misses. A red card for the away team’s Damion Stewart did little to change the balance of the game and the Royals will be pleased to have claimed all three points. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty was not undeserved but Rangers have a right to feel they could have won the game on another night. Having seen his side lose a well-balanced game late on, recently appointed QPR boss Neil Warnock was uncharacteristically pragmatic in his post-match appraisal. To his mind, his team outplayed Reading and he did suggest Stewart’s first yellow card was never a booking, but he was man enough to place the blame on Stewart for the second caution rather than the officials and admitted most referees would have given the decisive penalty. Warnock even confessed to enjoying the match, a sentiment rarely heard from him in defeat. Brian McDermott admitted that the Royals were fortunate to get the win but it was important that his side proved that they can still win when playing below par.
The frustration of struggling to overcome 10 men seemed to be getting to the home fans, perhaps fearing that the recent upturn in form was coming to an abrupt end. Things reached a nadir when a small number of Royals fans booed Matt Mills after he misplaced a long pass out of play. It was not the first time that the centre-back had mishit the ball into touch but the reaction of the minority was baffling. Mills has been a major part of the recent revival and does not deserve to be singled out for such reactions. Shows of frustration from the crowd are expected and it is the right of the paying punter to express dissatisfaction, yet there is a difference between groans of annoyance and actually booing your own player. Mills’ reaction was uncalled for, gesturing at the section of the crowd where the dissenters were housed. Footballers are paid to play football, not to be abused, but there are more dignified ways to react than this. Mills was quick to apologise the following day, having also left the pitch at full time without acknowledging the majority of supportive fans. This still does not excuse the actions of someone who has worn the captain’s armband, something he claimed was a goal for him when he joined the club. By the same token, the defender is still only 23 and will make errors of judgement, but he must display more maturity in future if he is to fulfil his captaincy ambitions on a permanent basis.
It is sad that a fifth straight league win and an eight win in nine Championship games has been tarnished by an unsavoury incident between a key player and a section of supporters, but the episode has now been put to bed and everyone involved will take great satisfaction at the recent achievements of the club. Positioned 14th in the table, there is still the luxury of having two games in hand on all but Barnsley of the seven teams directly above Reading. Of course, the games will be made up until later in the season and still have to be won, but it is a happy thought the Royals could sit as high as seventh in the table if they had played 37 games like their contemporaries. The comfort of playing at home in the last few games is now replaced with two tricky looking away ties at Middlesbrough on Saturday and Leicester on Tuesday. In their current form, Reading should approach the games full of confidence, although there were a few signs against QPR that the quick-fire string of recent games might just be catching up with some of the players.
Exceptional teams, like Reading’s 2005/06 Championship winning side, do go on long unbeaten runs and winning streaks, but the reality is the positive record at present will come to an end sooner rather than later. It is important that the side show the character to bounce straight back when the inevitable defeat comes to prove this impressive upturn is not just a flash in the pan. The top half of the table, and even the play offs, are getting closer with each win the Royals post on the board. After a flawless streak in front of their home crowd, now it is time to continue the climb away from Berkshire.
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