Stam: We kept back door shut
READING boss Jaap Stam said his side’s battling win was down to defending based on “commitment and communication”.
Despite starting the better side, Barnsley fell victim to a sharp counterattack engineered by Garath McCleary and John Swift.
The latter was tripped in the box by Tykes keeper Adam Davies, and the former despatched the resulting penalty after a lucky rebound.
Shortly after, Swift found himself free in the middle of the park to advance, pick his spot and give his side a 29th minute 2-0 lead.
Moments later, McCleary, who had impressed up to then, saw red after shoving Conor Hourihane to the ground after he took issue with a foul on Danny Williams.
The Royals defended well throughout a feisty second half, and were well organised at the back even after conceding to a driven Adam Armstrong effort just over 10 minutes from time.
Stam said: “In the first half we played very well. We had good possession, generated a number of chances and scored two good goals.
“We dominated with 11 men on the pitch, but obviously after Garath got sent off it was a totally different game. “Sometimes maybe we got a bit lucky, but we worked very hard and didn’t give many clear-cut chances away.
“We are building a certain team with a certain style of play and defending is definitely an aspect of that. We made it very difficult for the attacking team today.”
Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom said: “We suffered through not getting the first goal, but credit has to go to Reading, who played well.
“It was a good open game, but going down 2-0 in this league is always going to make things difficult.” Possession Shots On Target Shots Off Target Blocked Shots Corners Fouls Conceded Offsides Yellow Cards Red Cards 54% 46% 6 5 14 3 2 3 10 4 9 15 3 1 3 4 0 1