Sheffield Wednesday hosted Reading at Hillsborough on a gusty, wet midweek fixture between two sides eager for all three points to add to their early-season momentum. It was an end-to-end match, and Modou Sougou's last-gasp strike sealed a hard-earned point for the hosts after Danny Williams' early second-half finish.
Before kick-off on Wednesday night, the two sides had only won one match combined from a possible four - Wednesday were seven places above their opponents and knew a home victory was essential. Having beaten Bristol City 2-0 in their opening weekend clash, they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town, knowing a win would increase the side's morale early into the new campaign.
But, it was never going to be an easy test for them. Reading, despite their lowly finish in the league last term, gave plenty of the bigger sides a real challenge - and they wanted to record their first win of the new season on the board.
Sides level at the interval
Despite both sides having a few half-chances going forward, neither was able to fully penetrate the backline in attack before the half-time whistle, at least. A promising ten minute spell full of possession and encouraging link-up play was on display from Wednesday, but after that they struggled to create much in the final third.
Lewis McGugan saw his effort comfortably smothered by Reading goalkeeper Jonathan Bond early on, whilst Danny Williams combined well with Hal Robson-Kanu to create a few chances out of seemingly nothing in attack. Williams won a free-kick midway through the first 45, and the audacious effort from Oliver Norwood swerved narrrowly over the crossbar in the end.
Aaron Tshibola was given the game's first yellow card for a cynical tackle on Lucas Joao, just two minutes before Chris Gunter almost broke the deadlock for the visitors; but his eventual effort goalwards flashed wide of the mark. Reading continued their march forward in search of an opener, and Williams was unsurprisingly at the forefront of the action.
His neat footwork on the flank won the Royals a corner-kick, which created all kinds of problems for Wednesday to deal with - luckily enough, they scampered the ball to safety in the end. Around the half-hour mark, Wednesday captain Glenn Loovens seemed to be struggling with an injury of some sort, and it was soon clear he'd be unable to continue.
Tom Lees took the captain's armband, and a few minutes later he was replaced by Vincent Sasso to a standing ovation. Reading continued in the same vein up until the half-time whistle, but were not rewarded with a goal for their efforts due to some rather resolute defending from the home side.
Thrills, goals and spills in the second 45
As the second-half began, Reading carried on from where they left off. Just two minutes after the restart, Orlando Sá created all sorts of problems on the flank before unleashing a piledriver goalwards. It was destined for glory, but Lewis Price - who joined earlier in the summer on a free transfer from Crystal Palace - produced a decent stop to parry his effort partially clear. Unfortunately for the 31-year-old though, Robson-Kanu was lurking and pounced on the chance. Somehow though, the Welsh forward managed to sky his strike over the crossbar, much to the relief of the home supporters.
They were not relieved for much longer, though. Sá's excellent work on the flank was echoed once more as he galloped forward on the left-hand side and made his opponents pay, before the ball found Williams in the area - he thumped it past Price, who had no chance.
A whole host of alterations for both sides were interesting to note, and as the second-half continued, the pitch widened with more players tiring. Norwood made a crucial tackle to deny Modou Sougou through on-goal just minutes after the former Marseille man was introduced into the evening's action.
Price was forced into making a good stop to deny Norwood, whose second set-piece was on-target and swerving goalwards. As the clock ticked down, Wednesday were in search of the equaliser but Reading stayed strong at the back looking to hold onto a slender one-goal lead.
Then, dramatically, everything fell to pieces. An unfortunate, cruel mistake made by goalkeeper Bond as he was tentative to smother a fizzing high ball set Sougou through with a golden opportunity to strike, and he was never going to miss. Questions will undoubtedly be asked of Bond, and his capability to deal with high-pressure situations after a grave mistake such as this one, but it'll be interesting to see how he deals with the setback - despite Reading feeling hard done by with the result in the end.