Reading 2-1 Bradford City: No Marriott, No Problem?

Reading came up against Bradford City today, sitting comfortably in the play-off places and currently in good form (fourth in the league form table). Reading, despite performances not being great, were in reasonably good form as well (seventh in the form table), had only lost two games so far this year and were playing at home, where the Royals are typically stronger. So, it should have been a competitive game, right?

Wait, what? What do you mean Jack Marriott isn’t playing? Injured? What kind of cruel joke is this? Oh no. Oh no no no. Why didn’t someone wrap him in cotton wool? Deep breath. Oh bother.

The line-up saw the usual suspects in their usual places, Benn Ward continuing at left-back now Derrick Williams has returned, with Randell Williams and Kamari Doyle taking up positions on the wings and Kelvin “Long Kelvin” Ehibhatiomhan making his first start up front since… a while.

In other news, Sean Patton was recalled from his loan spell and came onto the bench, presumably because of the injuries to Will Keane and Marriott, and Mark O’Mahony having disappeared down the back of the sofa. No Kadan Young to be found either, worryingly.

Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Nyambe, O’Connor, D Williams, Ward; Wing, Fraser; Doyle, Savage, R Williams; Ehibhatiomhan

Subs: Stevens, Yiadom, Burns, Dorsett, Ritchie, Lane, Patton

The reality is, we always knew Marriott’s form was unsustainable and the injury is a cruel blow for him. However, in the bigger picture, today presented a good opportunity for Leam Richardson to show we are more than a one-man team and that he is able to get others contributing to the goals – and against a side who had lost their last four away games. As good a time as any, surely?

How did it all pan out then? The early indications were that it was a pretty even game, possibly with Reading looking the better of the two sides.

First half

In the eighth minute, Randell Williams miscued a cross from the left which found nobody and, in the 11th minute, Reading had a nice attack but the passing movements weren’t great. Charlie Savage, Lewis Wing and Doyle all lost the ball but Bradford weren’t great at intercepting these misses to break on a counter, fortunately.

So then: early signs were that we would have some intent, but no cutting edge.

In the 12th minute, Bradford made a crossfield pass from their right to the left to find an attacker with all the time and space in the world to run into the Reading box. Dez Williams was able to block the shot for a corner, but it wasn’t great to see the attacker given the freedom of the land.

This became a theme for the rest of the game, with Reading weirdly deciding to stand off the Bradford players unless they entered the box.

Doyle intercepted a Bradford pass outside the Bradford area in the 14th minute to slide a pass in for Long Kelvin, who found space between the two defenders, but his shot was blocked. I made a note to myself to not think about what Marriott would have done…

Reading are no strangers to making life difficult for themselves and, in the 19th minute, Pereira received a horrible, bouncing back-pass from Dez Williams which he did brilliantly to control under pressure, before then selling a dummy to the Bradford attacker and clearing the ball.

It was unnecessarily messy and needlessly invited pressure on ourselves, but it was reassuringly great footwork and a calm head from Pereira. Someone wrap him in the cotton wool we had saved for Marriott, please!

Reading had a few moments when they looked lively in the next 10 minutes or so. A Wing effort in the 25th minute that missed the target entirely, going way over, was followed by a good run into the box from Ryan Nyambe in the 28th minute to win a corner. The set-piece led to nothing, and a Bradford break came from the goalkeeper’s throw, but Wing did well to slide in and intercept the ball from the running winger.

Reading had another great break in the 32nd minute, started by Wing playing a long ball from deep to the centre circle to find Doyle, who ran into the Bradford half and played in Long Kelvin. He did well to make space to get a shot off but put the shot wide.

Dez Williams picked up the first yellow card of the game in the 34th minute, sliding in and catching the Bradford player just outside of the box and giving away a free-kick in a dangerous area. Dez won the header from the corner to put the ball out for a corner, which found a Bradford player on the left of the box in acres of space, who put in a shot that Pereira punched away. Why was the player given so much space? Again!

The last notable moment of the first half saw Long Kelvin with an effort in the 42nd minute which he wasn’t able to connect with cleanly, after receiving the ball in the six-yard box. Nothing happened as the first half closed out, with little added time given not much had really happened.

Both sides showed their vulnerabilities and capabilities during this first half, with perhaps Reading the slightly better of the two teams, but in need of finding more of a cutting edge with the passes to break the lines and finishing chances, or at least testing the goalkeeper. I can’t recall Reading testing the Bradford goalkeeper all half. I checked: we didn’t.

Half time: 0-0

The second half started, as it usually does in football games, with Andy Yiadom subbed on for Nyambe in what was presumably an injury-related change, given Nyambe’s performance was fine in the first half. There were no other changes for either side.

It’s important to remember this: Reading did actually start the second half reasonably strongly. It didn’t last long, but it did happen. Example of this were a Doyle run in the 49th minute to break into the box but he was blocked. Wing had an attempt from outside the area which was deflected wide for a corner.

Then in the 52nd minute, Ward ran into the box to try and get space to take a shot (this is not something we’ve seen him do before), but the reality was that he actually blocked a team mate (possibly Savage?) who had more space to get a left-footed shot off. During this run, Ward tried to find Long Kelvin with a through-ball, but without success.

Doyle then had a great opportunity on the edge of the area, centrally, but hit it well over, not even testing the keeper. We still hadn’t had a shot on target at this point. Doyle was looking like the epitome of this Reading side today: occasionally seeming dangerous but without any end product.

Then Bradford got a hold of the game and advanced. There was a dangerous Bradford cross in from the left in the 55th minute, when Reading defenders were able to smother the Bradford attackers and clear the ball, but there was an element of fortune to this profligacy.

Reading responded with a fantastic pass from Ward in the 60th minute to release Randell Williams down the left, with a great sliding tackle from the Bradford defender to win the ball and put it out for a corner.

A looping Wing corner went to the back post and somehow Dez Williams got a touch from inside the six-yard box; the ball hit the ground and bounced over the bar. I’ve no idea how it didn’t go in, and the “shots on target” statistic still remained a bleak “0”.

After this, a Bradford defender went down injured from defending the corner and was subbed off. There was a lengthy stoppage because of this, which contributed to a lot of the minutes that were added on later in the game. Another Bradford change was made during this time as well.

In the 68th minute, the inevitable happened. A cross in from the Bradford left went into the Reading box and was cleared by Dez Williams. However, the clearance wasn’t great – a scuffed effort with his right foot – and only found its way to just outside of the Reading area, with Matt Pennington given the freedom of the land to receive the ball, tee up a shot and let loose an effort which flew in and made it 0-1 to Bradford.

Questions had to be asked of the midfield at this point about why they weren’t tracking back to put pressure on the Bradford players, or why they weren’t there to win the second ball from the Williams clearance to get it further up the pitch.

In the 74th minute, Long Kelvin seemingly picked up a head injury, which led to a small stoppage. At this stage, you had to wonder quite why Richardson hadn’t made any changes, given how flat Reading had been since the opening stages of the first half, especially since conceding the goal.

Eventually, in the 78th minute, Richardson remembered that he has other players available on the bench. Finley Burns, Matt Ritchie and Sean Patton all came on with Dez Williams, Liam Fraser and Doyle going off. There was a lot of confusion from the fourth official around the substitutions, so much so that the ref had to stop the game and go to the technical area to figure out what had happened.

It seemed Dez Williams for Burns was a straight swap, with Savage dropping back into the midfield pivot to replace Fraser, with Ritchie playing as the number 10 and Patton coming in as the striker and Long Kelvin dropping into the right-winger role.

I think. As confusing as it was for the officials to figure out the substitutions, the Reading players didn’t seem particularly clear on their roles either.

In the 82nd minute, a Wing free-kick from the centre produced a moment of panic in the Bradford area, with neither the defenders able to get anything on it to clear the ball, nor the Reading attackers able to get anything on it to poke an effort on target. Again, a painful reminder: we still hadn’t managed a shot on target yet.

In the 86th minute, Randell Williams came off for Paddy Lane, in a straight swap on the left, which again made no sense given Lane is more comfortable on the right and Long Kelvin is absolutely happier on the left. Around this time, Patton picked up a yellow card, a little harshly if you ask me, for coming in with studs ever so slightly raised to try and win the ball from a Bradford defender, albeit unsuccessfully.

Then – and I am struggling to believe this had actually happened as I am writing it – in the 90^th minute, Ritchie picked up the ball over on the right and played a cross into the back post, which found Lane in space.

Lane didn’t take the ball confidently at first, struggling to get it under control. But when he found the control, from a tight angle on his left foot, he smashed the ball past the Bradford ‘keeper. Did we deserve it? Probably not. Do I care? Absolutely not. 1-1 with nine minutes extra time added. Game on?

It seemed so, but the early indications were that Bradford were more up for it than us. Bradford won a free-kick on Reading’s left, delivering a dangerous ball which a Bradford attacker glanced a header from, and Pereira did well to get a hand to the ball to get it away before the offside flag went up.

There was some great hold-up play from Patton in the 96th minute, who then played a crossfield pass from the left to the right to find Ritchie, with Yiadom on the overlap. However, Ritchie miscued his cross with his weaker right foot and it went to the ‘keeper.

It’s worth noting that, during Long Kelvin’s time playing as a nine during this game, he never held up the ball or released a winger successfully like this. It’s worth looking into Patton getting more minutes, I’d say.

I think I must have drank something dodgy but the strangest two things happened. We got through the 96th minute without conceding a goal and then, in an even more bizarre turn of events in the 97th minute, Savage found space on the left to whip in a delicious cross and Ritchie won the ball in the middle to get an effort on goal to make it 2-1 Reading!

Two goals from three shots on target. The stats count two but, for some reason, didn’t include a mis-hit Ritchie cross which ended up floating to the Bradford goalkeeper.

However, Bradford weren’t going away without a fight, with Paul Mullin subbed on for a wing-back in a move that screamed “kitchen sink”.

In the death of the game, Bradford had three shots from around the edge of the area, with Pereira saving, someone else blocking in the box and Ward beating it away from off the line. It was a little too close for comfort, but in almost 11 minutes of extra time-played, Reading were able to hold out. Somehow.

Full time: 2-1

This was a truly bizarre game to behold. We didn’t play well, but we’ve definitely played worse.

We definitely looked to have a lot less cutting edge without Marriott leading the line and this was demonstrated by the fact we only managed three shots on target. While the first half was quite even, with perhaps Reading slightly the better of the two, Bradford had the better chances. Certainly, in the second half, Bradford were the better side.

However, we responded from going behind to win the game, despite not necessarily seemingly like we had done enough to do so. The game was won by goals from the substitutes, which looks good on paper. In fact, all of this looks good on paper: beating a side fourth in the table without arguably our best player and substitutes having a positive impact.

But this isn’t the full story, and as the cliché goes, football isn’t played on paper. We were not the better side overall, and the substitutions were messy.

Indeed, it took far too long for Richardson to make any changes to a stagnant Reading performance. When he did, it felt like a last throw of the dice from a manager who didn’t have any ideas of how to manage the game and it was through pure luck we got the goals we did. It was good to see both Lane and Ritchie with the goals, with the scrutiny they’ve been under of late, especially Lane.

I suppose three points are three points and you don’t get extra ones for playing better football or being a prettier team to watch.

The challenge of rising to the occasion without Marriott was met by the lads, but this still all feels so unsustainable. However, every game we say this, and yet we keep collecting points – more often than not – and find ourselves still in seventh, just one point away from Huddersfield Town in sixth, with a game in hand. 

We’ve had worse afternoons.