Teen hero Jahmari in a ‘perfect baptism’
TEEN sub Jahmari Clarke arrived at the double as Reading stunned Birmingham in a real late show – for more than one reason.
Clarke, 18, equalised in the 70th minute with his first senior goal and then netted 12 minutes later to cancel out Scott Hogan’s third-minute strike.
Kick-off had been delayed for 35 minutes due to a system failure at St Andrew’s, which engineers fixed after tickets couldn’t be scanned and CCTV and wifi were affected.
Clarke, who replaced George Puscas at half-time, went out to make up for lost time.
He ended a run of four straight defeats.
Reading boss Veljko Paunovic, who was forced to watch the game from home after testing positive for Covid-19, said: “It was a perfect baptism for him.
“He has fantastic physical presence, power, a determination in the box to finish the actions.”
Blues took an early lead when Hogan latched on to a backpass from Liam Moore and rounded keeper Luke Southwood before tapping into the empty net.
But Reading, who have 16 players out injured, proved to be a threat for the final hour.
Clarke equalised when he planted a bullet header in the net from John Swift’s cross – their first goal in 409 minutes.
And he smashed home the winner after his first shot was blocked by goalkeeper Matija Sarkic.
Brum chief Lee Bowyer said: “I didn’t think we played well at all.”
BIRMINGHAM: Sarkic 6; Dean 7, Marc Roberts 8, Mitchell Roberts 7; Oakley 6 (Jutkiewicz 85th), Gardner 7, Sunjic 7 (Aneke 85th), Bela 7; McGree 8 (Woods (69th) 6); Deeney 6, Hogan 8
READING: Southwood 7; Yiadom 8, Holmes 6, Moore 7, Dann 6, Rahman 6; Dele-Bashiru 7 (Camara 81st), Laurent 7; Swift 7, Ejaria 7; Puscas 6 (Clarke (46th) 8)
STAR MAN: Jahmari Clarke
REF: T Bramall