Al Habsi heroics keep Reading in the hunt

READING squeezed out a vital win that owed much to the brilliance of goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi. His heroics, including a string of saves in a frenzied finale, saw Reading overtake Leeds to go fourth. Yann Kermorgant and Adrian Popa scored for a win that leaves Wednesday in danger of losing their place in the play-offs. But it was mostly about Al Habsi’s brilliant late saves to twice deny both Will Buckley and Callum McManaman. Both teams needed an upturn in form for the run-in to secure a place in the top six. Their recent records were identical — one win and three losses in five games. Wednesday had become vulnerable in sixth place and would have been overtaken on Tuesday had Fulham had held on to beat Blackburn. Ironically, Lucas Joao, on loan from Wednesday, scored a late equaliser. But Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal has insisted he is looking up, not down, and this was an opportunity to leapfrog Reading. Jaap Stam’s side were coming off the back of a 3-0 defeat at Preston last weekend and Wednesday lost 2-0 at Aston Villa. Kermorgant snatched the lead with his 10th goal of the season in the 13th minute and the execution was as sublime as the defensive cover was bereft. John Swift found Kermorgant alone on the left and he ran unchallenged to fire home. A close-range header from Jordan Rhodes looked to have brought Wednesday level only for Al Habsi to save brilliantly to his right. Substitute Adrian Popa made sure for Reading with a goal on the break after home goalkeeper Keiren Westwood had gone upfield for a corner in added time. Reading manager Stam said: ‘It’s been hard, a fight and I’m very proud of the team. Ali has been important for us the whole season. He had a great game.’