News and Views
Slide Down The Table Continues
08 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading's slide down the table continues to gather pace after another defeat on the road - this time away at Watford. Reading extended their poor run to just one win in nine Championship fixtures and are now 13th in the table after being 3rd only eight games ago. Despite some good periods of possession at Watford and some reasonably determined defending, the Royals looked short on ideas going forward and never looked likely to get anything from the game after going behind after 15 minutes.
Ovie Ejaria wrapped his arm around Watford's Joao Pedro and the striker went down spectacularly for a clear penalty before stepping up, sending Lumley the wrong way, and putting the home side ahead. Lumley was forced to leave the pitch later in the first half with a foot injury to be replaced by Bouzanis in the Reading goal. The last 15 minutes of the first half saw Reading enjoy the better possession for the first time in the game but there was no threat to the Watford goal. Reading's only shot on target came very late in the second half as the Watford keeper had a very quiet evening.
There were some signs of a fight back in the second half from Reading but too often the ball would end up coming backwards with no route through. Rare attempts from Reading to pass the ball through the final third ended in lost possession. With nothing up top from Reading, Meite and Carroll eventually came off the bench - but with only ten minutes to play they were never likely to make an impact. A scrappy period of play from both teams saw the game drift until Pedro scored his second when Reading failed to deal with a cross from the right and the ball came out to Pedro with plenty of time to fire in an impressive shot to seal the win for Watford. In truth this was a straight forward win for Watford - an easy three points that sees them rise to fifth, six points ahead of Reading.
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