Northampton Town 0-0 Reading: A Sole Point

12/04/2025 15:56

Sole point - because it's one point against the Cobbers... get it?

If you'd offered me a 0-0 draw for Reading with both Bolton Wanderers and Huddersfield Town losing today I'd certainly have taken it. And yet, even though today goes down as one step forward, it's still mightily frustrating.

Because of those results (thanks to Barnsley and Burton Albion for doing us a solid), the Royals had a great chance to grab a win at Northampton Town, stick the boot in and move five clear of the chasing pack. All it would have taken was one goal, by hook or by crook... but it never came.

This was an afternoon eerily similar to others we've seen before in the not-too-distant past. Reading simply never got going as an attacking force, never convincingly putting their foot down - lacking any really convincing periods of momentum, quality or pressure.

Reading (4-3-3): Pereira; Rushesha, Mbengue, Bindon, Abrefa; Knibbs, Wing, Savage; Campbell, Wareham, Ehibhatiomhan

Subs: Button, Yiadom, Stickland, Garcia, Carroll, Camara, Bodin

While there weren't any individual howlers today - no-one really put their foot in it - no-one was able to step up and seize the game by the scruff of the neck either. On the sidelines, Noel Hunt couldn't alter the flow of the match with half-time tactical instructions or second-half substitutions. Not even a red card for former Royal Nesta Guinness-Walker, with around a quarter of an hour to play, did the trick.

Even on a stubbornly unproductive afternoon such as this one there tends to be at least one 'nearly' moment. Today's came for Charlie Savage at the end of a rare fluid, incisive move, with Harvey Knibbs getting to the byline and pulling it back for the Welshman... only for him to guide his finish agonisingly wide of the post, having apparently mislaid his shooting boots.

(Side note: the eagle-eyed among you will notice that I shoehorned in some footwear-themed puns to the opening paragraphs, given Northampton's Cobblers identity. It was at this point in the match report that I ran out of puns deliberately decided to spare you any more.)

On another day that goes in and Reading get over the line. On this day however, that moment served only to highlight how toothless the Royals had been going forwards - the exception that proved the frustrating rule.

Having a toothless attack probably shouldn't be too surprising though. Although the Royals have sometimes bucked the trend (Peterborough United at home, Shrewsbury Town away), generally goals haven't been easy to come by under Hunt. Part of that's down to his more conservative approach, part of it's the lack of Sam Smith and Ben Elliott.

Jordan Cottle also made a good point on Twitter that, with this being Reading's third game in a week, the resulting fatigue was likely to be a problem. That ended up being the case: it's worth remembering that, although some attacking/creative players can be rotated, we're still consistently relying on playing Lewis Wing, Savage, Harvey Knibbs, Chem Campbell and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan as much as possible.

If you can't score though, at least make sure the opposition don't.

Reading have become markedly better at grinding out clean sheets under Hunt and boy was that needed today. The flipside to the disappointing consequence of a poor attacking performance is that this clean sheet was the difference between being two clear of seventh and three clear.

When you have a quality 'keeper in the form of Joel Pereira, you'll always stand a chance of grinding out a clean sheet. His performance today was crucial today - somewhat aptly, given how calamitously now-understudy David Button had done the last time Reading came to Sixfields.

Important too was the shift of a back four that's becoming increasingly capable of dealing with awkward, direct football. Hunt wisely took Andre Garcia out of the firing line today, replacing him with the more solid Kelvin Abrefa at left-back, but the rest (Tivonge Rushesha, Amadou Mbengue and Tyler Bindon) stepped up too.

The reward for that defensive show was Reading's ninth league draw under Hunt. While those four 1-1s and five 0-0s won't go down as the most glamorous games in the Royals' season, the resulting nine points are collectively worth their weight in gold: the difference between being three clear of seventh and six adrift of sixth.

What I suspect this playoff race will be decided by is simply which team manages to hold its nerve the longest. While today's evidence suggested that isn't Bolton or Huddersfield, who lost comfortably against Barnsley (4-1) and Burton Alton (3-0) respectively, Reading doing their bit by grinding out a valuable draw suggests they fit the bill.

If the shoe fits, right?