Noel Hunt looks back to his best for the Royals and he was on target again against Watford. His goal opened the scoring but Troy Deeney levelled matters before half time and neither side had enough to win the match in the second half.
Reacting to the poor defending that littered the 3-3 draw with Norwich last weekend, Brian McDermott dropped Zurab Kizhanishvili and brought in Alex Pearce. There was also a start for Jay Tabb in place of Brian Howard, who was not even on the bench because Jimmy Kebe was back.
We took the lead after just 15 minutes when Shane Long did well down the left and crossed for Hunt to score his third goal in three games. Long did really well to create the chance and Hunt was in the right place to poke it home.
The game though was full of mistakes and really not one for the purest, but before the break the home side were level. Jordan Mutch swung a corner over and Deeney rose to head home a free header and a poor way to lose the lead.
At the break Chris Armstrong replaced Ian Harte at left back, with the former Leeds man picking up a knock during the first period after putting in a much improved display.
We wasted a number of second half chances and the most guilty was Long, who did well to win the ball and race through on goal but a poor touch saw him lose control of the ball. Church saw Scott Loach save his effort and then the keeper, who was in the England squad midweek, turned denied Long. The rebound fell for Jem Karacan but somehow he fired over the open goal and any hope of a win was gone.
Matt Mills picked up his 5th booking of the season and he will now miss next week`s game at home to Leeds, and after playing half an hour in this one Reading fans will hope Jimmy Kebe is fit enough to start.
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