Monk gets a spot of relief from Leadbitter
CAPTAIN Grant Leadbitter led the way as Garry Monk’s Middlesbrough won for the first time in seven matches.
Leadbitter gave Boro the lead in the 14th minute when he thumped home a penalty.
And Reading were punished again in the 74th minute when Britt Assombalonga headed his seventh goal of the season.
It is the latest setback at the Madejski Stadium for Jaap Stam’s Royals who have now not won at their ground in four matches.
Middlesbrough went ahead when Assombalonga fell in the area under a clumsy challenge from Joey van den Berg and referee Oliver Langford immediately pointed to the spot.
Although Assombalonga appeared to want to take the penalty himself, Leadbitter disagreed and held on to the ball before hammering it into the roof of the net.
Reading’s woes continued when centre-backs Liam Moore and Tiago Ilori clashed heads, with the latter taken to hospital after leaving the field on a stretcher to be replaced by Tyler Blackett.
Moore came back on after nine minutes’ treatment with a heavily bandaged head.
Assombalonga could have made it 2-0 when he latched on to a Paul McShane mistake but he flashed a poor attempt wide.
But Middlesbrough held on comfortably and extended their lead when Jonny Howson crossed from the right for Assombalonga to nod in from close range.
Under-fire Stam said: “I like the club very much but if somebody else can make better results and do it better, then the board need to make that decision.
“We all work very hard but if there’s someone out there to do it a lot better, then that decision needs to be made.”
Monk said: “That was an important win for us.
“We haven’t been in a good period recently and there’s been a lot of talk about that.
“To put ourselves back on track, we’ve got to strike that right balance between defensive and offensive play.
“We were very good defensively. And were clinical offensively when we needed to be.”