Royals and Rovers in stalemate

Reading failed to win their fifth Championship game in a row, as they fought out an eventless stalemate with Blackburn Rovers, at the Madejski Stadium.

Clarke made five changes from the Blackpool draw, as Chalobah & Hector returned from injury, skipper Karacan made his first start in over a year, while Mackie and Pogrebnyak came in. Ake filled out the left-back spot, as Obita was rested, being one yellow card away from a ban.

It was also the day of Ryan’s Royals, a project run by some of the players, where young, disabled fan, Ryan Duval, designed a special, one-off kit for the players to wear in the game. He received a fantastic reception before the match, just a shame it wasn’t the best game!

Hal Robson-Kanu, taking up a more central role, had a decent, early opportunity for the Royals. Mackie did well to beat his man and get a cross into the area, which the Welsh international connected with, but not enough space to trouble Eastwood, who got down easily to claim.

Mackie then had a half chance of his own, as McCleary made inroads down the left side and crossed to the back post, but the angle was too tight for Mackie to get it on target. Blackburn were not offering anything going forward, as the Royals were dominating the possession.

Chelsea loanee Chalobah was looking lively on his return from injury, dictating the play in midfield and had a speculative effort late on in the half, but blazed over. Karacan came close to a dream return to the side, but his firm effort from twenty yards was blocked away.

Blackburn, who looked derived of ideas in the first period, looked marginally better in the second. Ben Marshall had a low, drilled effort towards goal, but Pearce managed to get it away from danger. McCleary had a few lively breaks in the process, but wasted them.

It was becoming a constant theme of the game for Reading – the build up was good, yet a lack of cutting edge in the final third. Adam Federici had his first real action of the game on the hour mark, as he had to push Ben Marshall’s dangerous cross over hsi crossbar.

We had a total of 15 corners in the game, and surprisingly enough, they were all good deliveries, but no killer instinct in the area. The quiet Pogrebnyak nearly had half an opening, as him and McCleary broke forward, but the big Russian slipped as he was through on goal.

Substitute Kwesi Appiah nearly caught out Rovers keeper Simon Eastwood, as he closed the keeper’s kick down and blocked, but cannoned just wide. Hope Akpan probably thought he won it in injury time from a corner, but was somehow blocked away on the goal line.

The final whistle was met with muted appreciation of our control of the game, but some underlying frustration of not taking our chances. A clean sheet is always good, especially going into the semi-final next week, but our lack of wins in the league is becoming concerning.

Reading – 4-2-3-1: Federici; Gunter, Pearce, Hector, Ake; Chalobah, Karacan; Mackie, Robson-Kanu, McCleary; Pogrebnyak.
Subs: Andersen, Cooper, Akpan, Norwood, Blackman, Appiah, Yakubu.

Blackburn – 4-4-2: Eastwood; Henley, Kilgallon, Spurr, Olsson; Cairney, Williamson, Spearing, Marshall; Brown, Rhodes.
Subs: Steele, O’Sullivan, Songo’o, Lenihan, Evans, Conway, Taylor.