Top Billing has Reading reeling
PHILIP Billing spared Huddersfield’s penalty blushes with a late goal that had them dreaming of automatic promotion from the Championship.
The Danish midfielder swept in the loose ball with eight minutes left after Tommy Smith’s shot had bounced off Reading keeper Ali Al-Habsi.
It sealed a vital win over the fourth-placed Royals – and pushed the Terriers, in third, to within four points of the top two.
And it came after Izzy Brown was left feeling sick in more ways than one by Rajiv van La Parra’s first-half penalty failure.
The midfielder wanted to take the kick himself after being fouled 10 minutes before half-time. But Huddersfield head coach David Wagner overruled him – having decided against giving the penalty to a player who had been suffering with illness before the game.
He then substituted Brown moments later, with the midfielder a picture of unhappiness as he made his way down the tunnel.
Huddersfield had charged to within reach of an automatic promotion place by collecting 32 points from the last 36 available before last night while Reading had been on an unbeaten six- game league run.
It is a sign of just how strong Wagner’s squad is that he was able to put out a back-up side last Saturday and still force an FA Cup replay out of Manchester City.
But they were frustrated in the first half, with that penalty save. Oman keeper Al-Habsi dived to his left to stop the Dutchman’s kick after Chelsea loanee Brown was tripped. That came in the closing moments of a first half that warmed up as it went on, with Huddersfield keeper Danny Ward doing brilliantly seconds earlier to tip on to the bar afterRoy Beerens had cut in from the left to bend a right-footed shot towards the top corner.
Then after Van La Parra’s spot-kick agony, Ward was sharp again to block Lewis Grabban at point-blank range after Jordan Obita had headed Chris Gunter’s corner back across goal.
Grabban, on loan from Bournemouth, swept a shot just beyond the far post following Obita’s cross on the run.
Huddersfield continued to apply pressure after halftime, with Nahki Wells driving right across goal when he was played in by Elias Kachunga. The visitors were relieved just before the hour mark when Kachunga, the Terriers’ leading scorer, volleyed just wide as Van La Parra’s cross was headed out to him.
Al-Habsi needed to be sharp once more to push the ball away as Aaron Mooy’s corner threatened to swerve in underneath his crossbar. But the Reading keeper was helpless to deny Billing. His left-footed shot from a difficult angle found the net for a dramatic late winner.