A last-minute penalty, the first awarded at home for Reading in over a year, gave Reading a much needed, and thoroughly deserved three points in this highly entertaining game. It ended a run of four defeats for Reading and denied visitors Bolton Wanderers a third successive league victory.

Credit must go to Noel Hunt and his squad for a feisty performance at a time when morale might have been understandably low. Having lost four games in a row and seen their leading goal scorer Sam Smith leave the club the previous day, a win was much needed boost to confidence and greatly appreciated by the home fans.

The was a noticeable determination not to allow events off the pitch to affect attitudes on the pitch from the start. Reading were tenacious out of possession, positive in their passing and confident on the ball. Although Reading dominated possession in the first half, it was Bolton who came closest to opening the scoring, Collins shaving the upright from the edge of the box.

Reading looked menacing attacking down the right, with Craig getting forward and linking up with the ever-improving Campbell. The young winger has grown in confidence as illustrated in his willingness to get a shot away with his weaker foot when the opportunity arose. Pereira was required a make a save from Collins when the ball dropped fortuitously to him six tards out.

In an open second half Reading put a wobbly looking Bolton defence under pressure as both sides clearly fancied their chances of winning the game. However, Reading looked far more likely to break the deadlock. Once again against the run of play, courtesy of the referee's assistant failing to spot two Wanderers forwards in an offside position leaving Collins with only Pereira to beat. Pereira was quickly off his line which was sufficiently distracting to make Collins to feebly shoot wide. In a rare Bolton attack, Wing caught Randall with a slightly mistimed challenge just outside the box, and Sheehan struck rattled the crossbar with resulting the free kick.

Reading pressure finally paid off when Etete impulsively moved his arm to the ball in the box in the eighty-ninth minute and referee Backhouse immediately pointed to the spot. Savage grabbed the ball to distract the Wanderers 'keeper and defenders while Knibbs composed himself for the for the task in hand before confidently stroking the ball past Southwood and being mobbed by his grateful team-mates. With five minutes of stoppage time remaining, Noel Hunt was not taking any chances, replacing Campbell with Holzman to make up a trio of centre backs for the remainder of the match.

Sam Smith's departure was a blow to the team, but Jayden Wareham had a very good game, and his inclusion could by no means be considered a weakness. In fact, in the frantic final minutes, with substitute Ehibhatiomhan causing havoc down the left, Wareham came close to prodding home a second Reading goal. That really would have put the icing on the cake. The future currently may be uncertain, but the character and team spirit in this young squad remains unquestionably strong. Reaching the play-offs may be a tall order, but on this showing, relegation does not appear to be even a remote possibility.

John Wells