Royals side lose to Rovers

Reading lost a second friendly in two days, this time at Bristol Rovers yesterday – still no need to panic though!

Nigel Adkins fielded a side with mainly first team players, that did not play much of a part in Saturday’s friendly loss to Swansea. The Royals visited Bristol for the second time this week, facing Rovers this time round, but it was unfortunately another loss.

The League Two outfit opened the scoring half-way through the first period, as a ball into the box wasn’t cleared and Richards tapped in, after a smart knock on. It got worse just before the half time break, as Clarkson doubled Rovers’ lead with a neat finish.

A player which has impressed the most this pre-season is Garath McCleary and he gave Reading a route back into the game, with a superb long-range strike. Despite this, Reading could not find a route back into the game, which left Nigel Adkins branding the defending as ‘shocking’ after the match.

As I said after the Swansea game, there is no need for panic. Friendlies should really not be looked at too seriously, they are simply minutes to improve fitness and in this case, adapt to Adkins’ new philosophy. I’m still sure they will be for ready for Ipswich this Saturday.

Reading: Taylor, Gunter, Cummings, Mariappa, Gorkss, Akpan, D’Ath, McCleary, Obita, Taylor, Pogrebnyak
Subs: Henly, Partridge, Sweeney, Sean Long, Tshibola, Tanner, Ugwu