‘BIRTHDAY BOY OLISE’S GUIANA BE A BIG STAR’

Olise 89 IVAN SPECK

SCORING the winning goal on his 19th birthday must have seemed a world away from his roots for Reading midfielder Michael Olise.

But the teenager from French Guiana made the Championship look and feel like a home from home, 4,500 miles from the South American town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.

But Olise’s breathtaking 89th-minute goal, playing a quick one-two with fellow sub Tom McIntyre and curling an angled 25-yard shot into the bottom corner, came as no surprise to Royals boss Veljko Paunovic.

“I have been there,” said Paunovic of Olise, who has been capped at Under-18 level by France and was briefly in Chelsea and Manchester City’s systems before joining Reading at 14.

“I left home when I was 16 and went through that kind of experience.

“It happens a lot. It’s part of football, but definitely there is credit to Michael and his family for all the risk and challenges they had to go through to get here.

“He’s right on the verge of becoming a fantastic pro, but I will always encourage the people around him, just like our staff and team, to keep helping him in a way in which we will not put in jeopardy his development.”

The fine margins are ruling against Mark Warburton’s QPR side at the moment, and he said: “The boys didn’t deserve to lose, but good displays count for nothing. The key thing is to recognise that.”

QPR: Dieng 6, Kakay 6 (Kane 72, 6), Dickie 6, Barbet 6, Hamalainen 6; Cameron 6, Carroll 7, Osayi-Samuel 7 (Bonne 79), Chair 8, Willock 6 (Adomah 57, 6), Dykes 6 READING: Cabral 6, Esteves 6 (Holmes 65, 6), Morrison 6, Moore 7, Richards 6 (Gibson 27, 6), Rinomhota 7, Laurent 6, Aluko 6 (Olise 65, 8), Semedo 6, Ejaria 8, Baldock 5 (McIntyre 87)

MOTM

OVIE EJARIA (READING)