All in all, it was a decent performance against Reading, but you can’t help but feel frustrated at the final result of 1-1. We dominated possession, had 18 shots at goal with eight on target and yet we never really forced Reading goalkeeper Joe Lumley into making many, if any, difficult saves.
Reading have the poorest away record in the league and aside from their aerial threat, never really offered too much. Having taken the lead and created a lot of opportunities we should have put the game to bed, but this is the Championship and inevitably when you don’t take your chances you get sucker-punched.
Nigel Pearson decided to put Matty James and Tommy Conway straight back into the starting line-up, following their respective returns from injury and there were also recalls for Andreas Weimann, Anis Mehmeti and Nahki Wells, with Mark Sykes (suspended), Alex Scott (injured), Andy King, Harry Cornick and Sam Bell dropping to the bench.
On Scott’s injury Pearson said that he was responding well to treatment and would likely be out for a week to 10 days. Kal Naismith and Tomas Kalas could both be involved in one of if not both of the weekend's Easter fixtures, away at Stoke City and home to Middlesbrough.
I was interested to see how we would line up with Scott missing from the No10 role. Would Pearson opt to play Weimann, Mehmeti or Conway in there or change to more of a 4-4-2? As it was the manager opted to play Conway in the 10, with James and Omar Taylor-Clarke in the middle and Weimann and Mehmeti out wide with Wells up top on his own.
Conway showed just how good a footballer he is in that role, showing strength to hold up the ball and play others in and linking the play. It’s great to see him back, we’ve missed him. We also saw the importance of James to the side, showing his composure and experience in the middle of the pitch.
There was an early scare when Tom Holmes crudely took down Conway and I’ll admit to fearing the worse but up he got, and the Reading defender was rightly booked. Players were slipping and sliding all over the pitch as a result of the deluge of rain that we have had and the fact that Bristol Bears had played the night before. The groundstaff had worked really hard to get the pitch playable, but players did struggle especially early on to keep their feet.
George Tanner was excellent throughout, looking to get forward, linking with Weimann on the right and getting crosses into the box. City had a lot of early pressure and created chances for Weimann, Wells and Mehmeti but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Well, that’s not strictly true as on 18 minutes, Wells turned the ball in from close range, but it was ruled out for offside.
Youngster Taylor-Clarke showed plenty of energy and attempted to send one crossfield pass out to Weimann which didn’t quite come off but did show the vision and intelligence of the lad, who certainly looks one for the future.
With former Newcastle United and Liverpool forward Andy Carroll alongside Yakou Meite, Reading did carry a threat from dead balls and City had to defend a number of crosses into the box, which they did well for all but the key moment in the second half.
It was great to see Conway get back to what he does best, firing in on the stroke of half-time, after a good move down the right involving Tanner and Weimann. There was an element of fortune with the goal, with a couple of deflections but it would be hard to argue against City deserving the lead.
Pearson said before the game that Conway would only play for an hour maximum following his injury absence since the FA Cup game at home to Swansea City in January. The manager was true to his word, and while it was the right decision in terms of managing Tommy back into action there is no doubt in my mind that it did have an impact on the remainder of the game.
Cornick came on and at the same time Taylor-Clarke was replaced by King. Both substitutes actually did reasonably well when they came on but we seemed to lose some of the impetus.
As mentioned, we had coped well with the Royals' aerial threat right up until the 72nd minute when, from a free-kick, Carroll was free on the left-hand side of the box and sent his header back into the middle for sub Lucas Joao to head over a somewhat stranded Max O’Leary. Reading were quite clever in blocking off Cam Pring and King, but Carroll shouldn’t have been left that unattended and maybe had Max stayed on his line he would have dealt with it.
It was a cruel blow, but we only had ourselves to blame for our profligacy in the final third. As it was both teams could have won it. Wells had another goal ruled out for offside, King hit the frame of the goal and Cornick saw a fizzing effort go just wide. Reading also had a three-on-one break but failed to capitalise.
We have a couple of tough games over the Easter holiday period and hopefully we may see Naismith, Tomas Kalas and Scott available for one or both. I would also like to see Kane Wilson come into the side on the right-hand side of the midfield. We know what Weimann can do and I would like to see what Wilson can offer next season.
Our 3 Peaps In A Podcast Bonus show ratings were: Max O’Leary 6, George Tanner 8 *MotM, Zak Vyner 6, Cameron Pring 8, Jay Dasilva 6, Matty James 7, Omar Taylor-Clarke 6, Andreas Weimann 6, Anis Mehmeti 6, Tommy Conway 8, Nahki Wells 6, Andy King 6, Harry Cornick 6 (subs have to have come onto the field before the 60th minute). A game average of 6.54, and a season average of 6.30.
For Nigel it was a 6, a game that we should have one and Pearson didn’t really have too many options to play with.
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
