The Wild Lower West: A Funny Old Game

03/14/2025 08:40 AM

Dixey has a mixed bag of games to unpack in this week's column: two disappointing draws and a hugely impressive win over Wrexham.

It's difficult to hide any disappointment with a two-point return from matches against Exeter City and Crawley Town, but then in typical Reading fashion, we produced one of our best performances of the season to beat Wrexham 2-0. It really is a funny old game.

The focus from those fixtures must be the fact that we remain unbeaten, and however much we may moan about not beating sides much lower in the table and inferior to us football-wise, we are still much harder to beat and are looking like a side that will continue to push for a top-six finish.

So, let's start with the Exeter game.

Despite Reading having 61% possession and three shots on target compared to Exeter's one, I can't really tell you anything else of any note. It was unusually cold for early March, the pre-match and half-time beer was as awful as ever, and the crowd was once again indicative of our owner's disastrous reign, where home crowds have been in decline for some time.

In fairness to Exeter, they looked like a team who were fighting to avoid relegation, and they often say those are the teams you don't want to be playing at this stage of the season.

Which brings me on to the away trip to Crawley, another side who are fighting to avoid relegation, but in my opinion looked a far better side than Exeter. The fact that we only came away from Crawley with a point (and were disappointed with it) shows how far we have come from the days when we were all fearful of an away trip. However, it was the way we conceded late on that prompted several 'two points lost' reactions (from me included).

Again, the game was not the best advert for League One football, but it was Reading who took the lead in the first half when Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan showed poise and a cool head to steer a shot past Joe Wollacott, who I can't help thinking would have not only been disappointed with the defenders in front of him, but also his own positioning.

My own disappointment was in the fact that I believe we could have seen the game out much better had we made our substitutions at different times and not upset the balance of the team at a crucial stage.

With all due respect to Billy Bodin and Mamadi Camara, they should have been replaced at half-time as they were effectively two bodies out wide who were not having any impact on the game. I was left screaming at one point during the second half when Bodin was gifted possession by Crawley, but then took an age to square the ball to Camara, who was unmarked - had he received the ball first-time.

Although Crawley were having some success in wider areas late on, I'm not a big fan of replacing both full-backs with eight minutes to play. For me it was those introductions that upset the balance of the side, made us look vulnerable and maybe showed a bit of management naivety.

While there was disappointment with the result, there was a lot of promise shown by Michael Stickland, who I thought was excellent alongside Tyler Bindon, and showed once again why our academy is the life blood of this club. Finally (then I promise I am done with the Crawley game) I would like to know how Jayden Wareham is so much better in the air than Ehibhatiomhan. Answers on a postcard please (do people still do that?).

If the Exeter and Crawley games were disappointing to watch, you could be forgiven for thinking the Wrexham game would follow suit, but what we witnessed was one of our best performances of the season, if not the best.

From the first minute it was clear that Reading were not going to sit back and be extras in the latest Disney production, with Charlie Savage in particular launching himself into tackles and driving forward at every opportunity - something we have now become accustomed to from Savage, who now regularly rates a solid 8/10 every game.

Andre Garcia had one of his best games in a Reading shirt, which was not surprising given his freedom to venture forward at every opportunity, where I believe he is far more effective. Bindon rarely got out of first gear and still looked head and shoulders above every other player on the pitch, which included former Reading man Sam Smith.

Talking of Smith, I urge you to watch the after-game footage from Amadou Mbengue, in which he searches Bindon's pockets looking for Smith!

In fairness to Smith, I was one of his biggest supporters in a Reading shirt, but I'm not sure he looked entirely comfortable on Tuesday night, taking instruction from Parky and air traffic control.

If the game and Reading performance were right up there with the best this season, the same cannot be said for referee Edward Duckworth, who gave the most bizarre second yellow - to Stickland - that I have ever seen. It was clear to everyone (except Duckworth) that Stickland was leaving the ball for Pereira to take the kick, but Duckworth deemed the delay to be time-wasting and issued Stickland with his second yellow of the evening.

While I accept that referees have a difficult job to do, they still need to do it to a high standard, and those standards seem to be slipping alarmingly this season. Although I am sure that Duckworth would have been pleased with his own performance (most referees are) I personally think Jack or Vera could have done a better job.

Though the performance against Wrexham was an excellent one all round, I think the game also showed how far Wareham has progressed in recent weeks. He never gave the Wrexham defence a minute's peace, was intelligent with his running off the ball, and despite not being on the scoresheet, looked sharp in the final third. The fact that most of those around me were disappointed with Wareham being replaced after 84 minutes probably shows just how effective he has been recently.

This weekend we are back at the SCL for the visit of Stevenage, who currently sit mid-table and would probably be the first to admit that their recent results have been mixed. That said, we will again be looking at centre-back changes, and I expect Stevenage to try and exploit that as often as possible.

A tough afternoon but I can see us proving to be too strong for Stevenage and will eventually win 2-0 after a goalless first half.

Reading 2-0 Stevenage

(Knibbs, Wareham)

10,788

Until next week.

Much love and Cmon URZZZ.

Dixey