ROYALS CAN’T CROWN IT WITH A GOAL
JAAP Stam felt his Reading side did everything but score as they were held to a goalless draw by Sheffield Wednesday.
Neither goalkeeper was seriously tested throughout the largely forgettable contest but Sone Aluko, Dave Edwards and Mo Barrow all missed the target from good positions for the hosts.
The visitors were toothless up front for the most part, other than a good spell at the beginning of the second half when Lucas Joao fired straight at Vito Mannone.
“I think that we dominated for the majority of the game,” said Royals boss Stam.
“I think we defended well and didn’t give anything away.
“We had a couple of good opportunities and the only thing we didn’t do was score that goal.
“We played some very good football. But you need to score to get the three points.
“You can always say you deserve more, but that’s football. It’s difficult to say you deserve it if you don’t get it.
“The last few weeks have been the same, dominating and creating opportunities but we could and perhaps should have done better.”
It was the hosts who made the better start, forcing an early corner when Chris Gunter’s cross from the left was headed behind by a Wednesday defender.
And the Welshman was soon in again, teeing up international team-mate Edwards, but the midfielder missed his kick. The ball fell nicely to Aluko at the back post, who flashed a shot agonisingly wide from a tight angle.
Reading were dominating possession and constantly probing for an opening, but headers from corners courtesy of Liam Moore and Paul McShane, both off target, were the closest they came to a breakthrough before the break.
Sheffield Wednesday turned the tables after the restart and almost took the lead on 47 minutes.
A free-kick from Joost van Aken was blocked, but the centre-back clipped the ball back into the box for Joao. However, the striker prodded a shot straight at Mannone when he really should have scored.
Joao then headed another chance wide while Steven Fletcher got the ball stuck under his feet as he looked to break clear of the Royals defence.
The hosts rallied and began to press forwards again themselves with Aluko curling a shot just wide from the edge of the box.
Substitute Jon Dadi Bodvarsson led a three-on-three charge, firing in a low cross which Leandro Bacuna touched onto Barrow, only for the winger to get his feet mixed up and blaze off target.
The final big chance came at the other end when Jordan Rhodes got his head to a Morgan Fox cross, but it bounced wide.
“It was not a great game to watch because it was very tactical,” said Owls boss Carlos Carvalhal.
“We looked more threatening in the second half, but I think a point was a fair result. The positive is that we kept a clean sheet and we are six games unbeaten.”
Carvalhal made no fewer than six changes to the side which drew at Ipswich on Wednesday.
“We had one less day to recover than Reading, which is why we made changes for the game,” he explained. “This competition is hard. We play away twice in a week against two tough teams. We got a point in both, but we are frustrated.”