Reading’s winless streak was extended to four games as they were held to a draw at home to Huddersfield.
Jamie Paterson opened the scoring within two minutes due to some poor defending from the hosts. The visitors were level though when former Huddersfield man Oliver Norwood scored a 30 yard free kick, however Jed Steer in the Terriers goal should have done a lot better to keep it out.
Huddersfield retook the lead thanks to Nakhi Wells before Ola John rescued a point for Reading, whose bright start to the season has hit something of a plateau. They’ve picked up just three points from their last three games with three successive draws. Before this was a hot streak of six wins in seven.
Early Lead
In comparison Huddersfield had only won one of their last six, but made the brightest possible start when Jordan Obita misplaced his pass, Paterson was on hand to run onto the loose ball and slotted it home past Ali Al-Habsi. The ‘keeper had to be on hand to stop Paterson grabbing his second a few moments later but he saved both the effort and his sides foothold in the game.
An odd moment was next when Norwood drifted in a free kick from the right wing, but the ball bounced and flew into the net past Steer, who didn’t react in time. This kick started Reading to action and they started to look a lot more dominant.
Terriers Performed Well
However Reading were again the architects of their own downfall as 26 minutes in Wells gave Huddersfield the lead again as he fired his shot past Al-Habsi and into the roof of the net. Considering the Terriers’ position in the Championship it’s impressive that they were able to go to the Madejski and perform so admirably.
By half time Royals boss Steve Clarke made changes, and brought on more attacking options in Orlando Sa and Alex Fernandez. This seemed to have the desired effect as Nick Blackman had his shot parried onto the post by Steer and the rebound was fired over by Sa. The pair then combined with Blackman feeding Sa but his shot was well off target.
Late Equalizer
Joel Lynch and Mark Hudson were almost impeccable at the back and kept Reading out for a long period of the game, but it was only a matter of time before the Royals were going to score again, and they did. John, a substitute who’d been on the pitch a mere ten minutes, managed to squeeze in a shot from a tight angle which levelled up the game, and on the balance of play it was a deserved result.
Reading’s attacking strength was cancelled out by Huddersfield’s resilience at the back, and the Royal’s winless streak will be a cause for concern for Clarke, as they’ve been tipped for promotion this season. An exciting game ended with neither side taking the win.