Swift goal took its time to turn up
READING manager Veljko Paunovic was pleased with the patience his side showed as they ground out a victory.
A solo effort from John Swift was the difference between the sides.
Victory puts the Royals in seventh and Paunovic was relieved to see a second-half breakthrough.
He said: “I think it’s a well-deserved win. The team worked hard and was mature.
“We didn’t start well – in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, we weren’t good at all.
“In the end, we tried on set pieces, combinations, counter-attacks and over the top, and that’s how we finally scored.
“But we again put ourselves under pressure in the last five minutes, but the defence did a very good job.”
Cauley Woodrow forced Reading keeper Luke Southwood to palm away on 19 minutes and went close again six minutes before the break.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 77th minute. Swift took the ball on the left flank, ran into the area, and rounded Bradley Collins for his eighth of the season.
Tykes boss Markus Schopp felt his team lost concentration after William Hondermarck came on for Romal Palmer.
He said: “It’s a film I see so many times, we have to make a substitution and we lose a couple of minutes of organisation.
“Right now scoring for us is a really tough thing.
“A team like Reading have the quality to take advantage.”
READING: Southwood 6; Yiadom 5, Moore 6, Dann 5, Rahman 6; Laurent 5, Drinkwater 6; Dele-Bashiru 6, Swift 7, Ejaria 5; Puscas 4 (Azeez (63rd) 5)
BARNSLEY: Collins 8; Moon 5, Helik 6, Sibbick 5; Brittain 5 (Cole 82nd), Palmer 5 (Hondermarck (72nd) 5), Gomes 5, Williams 5; Iseka 6 (Odour (66th) 6), Adeboyejo 5; Woodrow 6
STAR MAN: Brad Collins
REF: A Davies