Reading claimed their first home win of the season at the fifth attempt after beating former boss Nigel Adkins’ Hull City side in a very convincing fashion. The win is sure to ease any pressure that may have been mounting on manager Paul Clement as the Royals climbed out of the relegation zone.
Sam Baldock made it 1-0 after just four minutes when a corner was whipped in and Tiago Ilori flicked on a header at the near post. His effort was saved by David Marshall but the rebound was pounced on by the former Brighton man to grab his first goal in front of the home faithful.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson grabbed his second home goal of the week as some good trickery from Andy Yiadom in the box kept two or three defenders busy, and once his intricate pass found the Icelandic man, he had plenty of space to apply a tidy finish and double the lead.
The third was provided by Andy Yiadom, grabbing his first goal for the club. Some good build up play that worked the ball into the box ended with a cut back by Josh Sims. The ball was not properly cleared by the Hull defence and fell to Yiadom, who worked himself a yard and scuffed his shot into the bottom corner. It may not have been pretty but they all count, and in Reading’s position, they will take anything they can get. John O’Shea got a late red card but that did not dampen the mood as Reading professionally saw the game out to the final whistle.
This is a massive result for the team. I think this was a favourable fixture for the side, a home game against a fellow struggling side to get a win and a boost in confidence and Reading did exactly that. There were quite a few changes to the side so maybe that sparked something within the team. We move onto Brentford away next Saturday, which will be a tough game for sure, but hopefully we can go to Griffin Park with some new found belief.
Madejski Stadium
Sky Bet Championship
22/09/2018 4:00 pm
Attendance: 12409
Referee: Jeremy Simpson
| Reading | Hull City | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baldock (4) Bodvarsson (70) Yiadom (81) | |||||||
| Waker | Marshall | ||||||
| Ilori | Lichaj | ||||||
| O'Shea | Elphick | ||||||
| Moore | Burke | ||||||
| Yiadom | Kingsley | ||||||
| Bacuna | Bowen (63) | ||||||
| Ezatolahi (68) | Henriksen | ||||||
| Kelly (85) | Stewart (63) | ||||||
| Sims | Kane | ||||||
| Bodvarsson | Irvine | ||||||
| Baldock (69) | Campbell | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Swift (68) | Grosicki (63) | ||||||
| Barrow (69) | Martin (63) | ||||||
| Gunter (85) | |||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 14 | Goal attempts | 9 |
| 6 | On Target | 2 |
| 4 | Corners | 4 |
| 12 | Fouls | 10 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
| 1 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 43 | % | 57 |