I came out of this game with mixed thoughts, although one was clear enough: this was just a plain ol’ frustratingly avoidable, disappointing slip-up.
After an encouraging run of form in the league that culminated with a 5-1 mauling of MK Dons last weekend, going to rock-bottom Wigan Athletic should have only had one result. Even without Jack Marriott, George Earthy and now Benn Ward, this should have been another three points.
‘Should’ often has a habit of not amounting to much though. And however you skew it, in reality this game ended up as Reading’s biggest misstep in the league so far this season.
Beyond that, I deliberately wanted to go off and do something very non-football for a while as I waited for my train back to London, before writing this match report. Sometimes it’s better to clear your head for a bit before you try to get your thoughts down for a match report, so off I went to Wigan Waterstones (I got The Shortest History of Ireland and The Flash: Rebirth if you’re wondering).
And after all that, plus a morale-boosting stop at Wigan Morrison’s (a bag of Sports Mix if you’re wondering) I just keep coming back to one simple conclusion: in games like this, either you find a way to win or you don’t. Everything else is secondary.
In some games (like last Saturday), you’re so much better than the opposition that the result is never in doubt. You’re not always going to be at your best though (Reading were poor today, but not terrible) and you will sometimes just run into difficult opponents (Wigan were well better than their place in the table would suggest). It happens.
When you’re in that position, and you’re a side with serious ambitions of playing in the Championship next season, either you get the job done or you don’t. Grab a goal however you can, do it again, then secure the points.
Annoyingly, this is a ground where Reading have been able to do that in recent years. The Royals ground out 2-1 wins in both of their previous two visits to Wigan and, going by the stats, were certainly capable of doing that again today: 17 shots to Wigan’s 13, six on target to their four, 1.99 xG to Wigan’s 1.16 (all via FotMob).
At the end of the day though, Wigan punished a moment of sloppiness in our third through Scott Hogan’s second-half strike and we had no response. While we can point to individuals not being sharp enough at a key point defensively or others not taking specific chances, ultimately it’s a collective responsibility to find a way, and Reading came up short.
Leam Richardson made one change to the side that thrashed MK Dons, with Ward replaced by Jeriel Dorsett at centre-back. There was no place for Conor Masterson on the bench (though he travelled and warmed up before the game), with Josh Knight preferred as a sub.
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Godwin-Malife, O’Connor, Dorsett, Roberts, Wing, Rinomhota; Lisbie, Stokes, Lane; Reid
Subs: Stevens, Knight, Fraser, Savage, Williams, Kyerewaa, Brown
You can split the first half more or less into two: the first 35/40 minutes or so when Reading largely struggled to get going and the final 5/10 when we started to offer a threat.
In the first of those portions, the hosts overran and outplayed a Royals side that didn’t know how to contain them. Wigan knocked the ball about too quickly and sharply for Reading, whose press just didn’t work.
On far too many occasions the Latics played through us and moved into our third, although clear-cut chances were thankfully thin on the ground. That was with the exception of one opportunity around 24 minutes in though, when a low cross to the six-yard box, central, was skied over the bar.
Still, Wigan’s dominance prevented Reading from building up a head of steam and developing much of a threat for a lot of the first half. Kyreece Lisbie did however have one great opportunity when he burst through, one on one, but couldn’t beat the ‘keeper.
The Royals ended the half well though, finally showing the intensity and proactivity that had been conspicuous by its absence until that point. In the minutes before the interval, a Josh Stokes cross found Haydon Roberts at the back post (header over), while one from Roberts himself set up Jamie Reid at the other back post (header well saved).
Half time: 0-0
Reading improved a bit after the break (compared to the first 35/40 minutes) but still weren’t fully clicking, not reaching the levels we’ve been used to in previous games. Typically though, after going close twice in quick succession (Lisbie having a shot blocked and Reid having a header saved), Wigan took the lead.
A long ball down the right took out an out-of-shape Reading defence, leaving a Wigan attacker acres of space from which to send a cross in. Though Joel Pereira parried the delivery, it was back into the danger area, allowing Scott Hogan to bundle home – with no Royals defender on hand to stop him. 1-0.
Reading weren’t far off an immediate response, with big shouts for a penalty waved away. The Royals largely faded after that though and Lewis Wing had to be on hand to make a key block at one point.
Richardson’s response from the sidelines was to turn to his bench twice. Charlie Savage and Jacob Brown replaced Andy Rinomhota and Jamie Reid in the 77th minute, while Randell Williams came on for Roberts in the 82nd.
I don’t really have an issue with any of those subs individually. Introducing Savage to add something different in the middle was the most logical idea, while bringing on a striker in good goalscoring form and freshening up the left flank all made sense.
What was clear though is that there was an X Factor missing. To be fair, that’s primarily due to who’s unavailable (Marriott and Earthy being injured indirectly means a weaker bench), but I still don’t see enough ability in Savage, Brown, Williams, Liam Fraser and Daniel Kyerewaa to change a game in these conditions, so perhaps this is something to address in January.
It’d probably also be worth Richardson having some kind of Plan B for shaking things up. Could Reading go two up top when chasing the game for instance? There’s no obvious thing he’s not doing, but I’m also not seeing much inventiveness – also evidenced by very routine substitutions (it always used to be Brown and Williams coming on in a double change, and nowadays Lane always ends up at left-back).
Back to the match action, and Reading should have equalised late on. With a few minutes to go, Williams burst down the left and sent in a low cross that Lane couldn’t connect with in the middle, and Stokes did at the back post, but it was stopped on the line.
Though four minutes were added on, the Royals ran out of ideas and ultimately had no way back into the game.
Full time: 1-0
This game should at the very least be a stark reminder to this team that it’s still got a lot of improvement to go through if it wants to be up there in the hunt for promotion this season. Perhaps we got too high after the MK Dons game, maybe we went into this match with too much complacency.
We do at least have two opportunities on the horizon to learn from this game and move on quickly. Leyton Orient (one point below us in ninth) and Barnsley (21st) are both visitors to the SCL in the week coming up, and six points from those matches will allow us to put this match behind us.