Royals coast past Burton to go into third

Four wins in a row?! What is happening?! A 3-0 win against Burton Albion at the Mdaejski Stadium gave Reading a fourth consecutive win and took us into third in the table.

Jaap Stam raised a few eyebrows with his team selection, as he made two changes from the win at Wigan after the international break, with the injured duo of Swift and Kermorgant and Harriot making way for Jordan Obita, Dominic Samuel and Roy Beerens. This meant we reverted to a less familiar 3-5-2 formation, but it didn’t prove a problem!

Our opponents Burton haven’t had much luck on the road recently, not having taken maximum points from an away game this campaign, but they started the better at the Mad Stad. Jackson Irvine had a half chance as we failed to clear the ball in our area, but the Aussie international blazed harmlessly over the crossbar to give us a warning.

Reading-born Stuart Beavon almost thought he scored after some neat play from the visitors, but a Reading body managed to block his effort. We finally started to turn the screw and started playing some good football, being in control of the game and keeping the visitors camped in their half, which coincided with us breaking the deadlock.

Obita and Beerens tried to link up on the left side, but had the ball nicked away, yet Jordan Obita’s persistence won the ball back and fell into the path of Beerens. The Dutchman drove into the area and it was his low cross-shot which was tapped in at the back post by a sliding Dominic Samuel, repaying the faith his managed showed in him.

It was a first Reading goal for the academy graduate, and would have been chuffed with the fans signing ‘he’s one of our own’ to the 22-year old. A second goal followed just seven minutes later, as Obita once again was key in the move, doing well to find space and cross low for an unmarked Danny Williams to fire into the roof of the net.

Replays showed the midfielder may have been luckily, as it hit the underside of the bar, but it put us in cruise control as it seemed to take the life out of Nigel Clough’ side. Lloyd Dyer roamed forward from left-wing back to give Burton their best chance of the game, but after a slight mix up at the back, Chris O’Grady completely missed the ball!

Skipper Paul McShane really should have scored after being left completely unmarked from a McCleary corner, but his header was blocked. The pace of McCleary and Samuel up front was proving fruitful and gave us a different option to get us up the pitch, if our usual passing game was proving stubborn against an organised Burton side.

Into the second half, Reading started brightly and another chance came through the impressive Obita on the left again, as his cross found McCleary, but fluffed his finish from ten yards. As per usual, we didn’t make the second half a pretty one, as we seemed to take our foot off the gas, as the visitors came on us more as the game progressed.

We were screaming for the third goal to kill the game off, despite the away side not creating any clear cut chances – all efforts from Burton were hopeful long-range efforts. The third goal did came thanks to substitute Yakou Meite, who thought he scored his first Reading goal, but will unfortunately go down as a John Brayford own goal.

The powerful forward picked up the ball on the right side, a neat touch took him past a Burton defender and drove into the area, his low effort was parried by the keeper, but hit the defender and tricked into the net. After having a goal disallowed at Wigan in his last outing, he will want to claim it, but unfortunately won’t be going to him!

Another substitute nearly made an impact for Burton as the ninety minute mark approached as Will Miller’s snapshot in the box was drilled just wide, with a touch begging from a team mate. The final whistle signified a fourth straight win, a fourth straight clean sheet and a win that takes the Royals into third place in the Championship.

A great result and although it was a game we should be winning on paper, the fact we are winning these type of games comfortably is a good sign. I know there will be much tougher games to come in the next few weeks, namely Bristol City on Saturday, but we are giving ourselves a great chance of finishing in the top six on our current form.

Reading – 3-5-2: Al-Habsi; McShane (C), Moore, Blackett; Gunter, Evans, Beerens, Williams, Obita; McCleary, Samuel.
Subs: Moore, Watson, Gravenberch, Kelly, Harriot, Meite, Mendes.

Burton – 5-3-2: McLaughlin; Akins, Brayford, Mousinho (C), Turner, Dyer; Williamson, Palmer, Irvine; O’Grady, Beavon.
Subs: Subs: Bywater, Choudhury, Harness, Barker, Flanagan, Naylor, Miller.