Vito’s the Man in Clem debut
READING manager Paul Clement claims his team will go into Tuesday’s meeting with Aston Villa brimming with confidence after picking up a win in his first game as manager.
A brilliant strike from Sone Aluko, coupled with an injurytime penalty save from Vito Mannone, were enough to give ten-man Reading three points for the first time in ten games.
Substitute Yann Kermorgant was given his marching orders with ten minutes of the game remaining after picking up two yellow cards in 11 minutes.
Clement said: “We’ve got a massive game away to Aston Villa on Tuesday.
“They’ll be a tough opponent as they’re looking to secure a play-off place and maybe push for even more than that, but QPR went up there a couple of weeks ago and won 3-1, so why can’t we get a good result?
“I’m most pleased for the player and the fans. The fans showed up in numbers on a miserable day which normally keeps fans away, and there was a huge noise at the end.
“We dug in, it was a scrappy performance at times that was full of passion and fight and we managed to get over the line in the end.”
Reading opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Aluko showed good skill to beat Jake Bidwell on the right, before driving forward and unleashing an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area.
QPR almost drew level a minute afterwards when a poor touch from Tiago Ilori allowed Pawel Wszolek to find Conor Washington who flashed his volley just wide.
Rangers were the better side for the remainder of the first half and had a goal disallowed when Joel Lynch diverted Luke Freeman’s shot into the net from an offside position.
QPR continued to dominate after the break and Mannone did well to acrobatically tip Paul Smyth’s goalbound drive over for a corner in the 67th minute.
Kermorgant picked up his first booking in the 70th minute for delaying the taking of a quick free-kick before the R’s went close again when substitute Eberechi Eze shot just wide from 25 yards.
Reading were down to ten men on 81 minutes as Kermorgant was shown a second yellow for a foul on Darnell Furlong.
Reading had defended magnificently with both Liam Moore and Ilori making vital blocks from wave after wave of QPR attacks but it looked as though that effort was in vain when the visitors were awarded a penalty in the 91st minute – Dave Edwards clumsily bringing Wszolek down in the area.
Bidwell stepped up but saw his effort well saved by Mannone to allow Reading fans to enjoy a Good Friday.
And QPR manager Ian Holloway was left scratching his head as to how his side hadn’t come away with at least a point.
He said: “With the chances we created we should not have lost that game.
“Luckily we’ve got a home game against Norwich on Monday that we can hopefully carry this performance into and try and get on a bit of a run, although that’s very tough in this division.
“I had some words to say about the penalty because I’ve got a defender shouting that he wants to take it more than the forwards. I pay my forwards to score and my defenders to defend so I’d like it the other way round really!”