Vote For Your October 2024 Reading Player Of The Month

Yesterday at 11:42 AM

Which of these three players caught your eye the most?

October was a bit of an odd month for Reading. For a starter it was a lot busier than September, containing six League One games rather than three. But while it was excellent from a results perspective, with the Royals winning four of those matches, we didn't really see the all-round excellent displays from August.

Reading put in four performances with an overall average rating (based off our Player Ratings) higher than 6/10 in August. In October? Only the one (Bristol Rovers) made it to 6/10, and it was exactly that number.

Still though, some individual players had good months and, you've guessed it, we'd like you to pick your standout. You probably got a slight clue from the title of the article, but anyway.

Before that, a couple of bits of housekeeping. First of all, in narrowing the shortlist down, we had to remove from contention a couple of players who weren't good enough to be considered this time but still deserve some credit. So an honourable goes to Chem Campbell, who scored three times in October, and Andre Garcia, who's doing commendably well at left-back for any inexperienced academy graduate, let alone one who's only 16.

More importantly, we have September's winner to announce! Congratulations are in order to Ben Elliott, who made it back-to-back POTM wins, having taken the August award previously. He secured 70% of the vote this time, well ahead of Michael Craig (16%) and Harvey Knibbs (14%).

Amadou Mbengue

Average rating: 6.17 / Man of the match awards: 3rd (Burton Albion H), 1st (Crawley Town H), 1st (Exeter City A)

After a dip in September, Mbengue improved in October, putting in some big defensive performances to help Reading to their four league wins. He was excellent against Exeter City, when the Royals rode out second-half pressure to secure the points, and proved crucial at both ends of the pitch against Crawley Town. Having netted the opener, he impressively cleared a shot off the line shortly after.

Mbengue's also being asked to show his versatility nowadays. A common second-half substitution is for Andre Garcia to be replaced by Harlee Dean, meaning Mbengue goes out to left-back. While that's a role he's previously played in, it's never easy for a defender to switch role mid-game, so credit to him.

Joel Pereira

Average rating: 6.67 / Man of the match awards: 3rd (Exeter City A), 1st (Bristol Rovers H), 1st (Stockport County A)

Pereira more than proved his worth in the three games he played in October, being involved in the MOTM voting each time and winning it outright twice. The highlight of those performances was surely the Bristol Rovers game, when he pulled off some excellent saves to secure the Royals' first clean sheet since August. His overall average rating was the highest of anyone in the squad for last month.

Sam Smith

Average rating: 6.00 / Man of the match awards: 2nd (Bristol Rovers H)

Reading's main centre-forward added another three goals to his season tally, netting in three different games: a late header against Burton Albion, as well as finishes from runs in behind against Crawley Town and Bristol Rovers. He also improved his all-round game from earlier in the season, looking particularly effective against Bristol Rovers, coming second in our MOTM vote accordingly.

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You can vote for your October player of the month in the poll just below. If it doesn't display on your device, try this link right here.