Barrow’s brace helps Royals beat Black Cats
Sunderland 1 Reading 3
MO BARROW bagged a brace as Reading overcame a potential banana skin to win at Sunderland.
Buoyed by a victory last time out and with Chris Coleman taking charge of his first home game as Sunderland boss, there was a sense of optimism around Wearside that this could be the first time the Black Cats would win at the Stadium of Light in 2017.
But it all fell apart when they were reduced to 10 men just before half-time as Callum McManaman was shown a second yellow card for handling the ball into the net.
And the visitors took full advantage after the restart with Barrow’s double and a Dave Edwards strike putting them 3-0 ahead before a late Lewis Grabban penalty pulled one back.
“It was their first home game under the new manager so we expected them to be really up for it,” said manager Jaap Stam.
“We were warned about that and I think the players responded very well to that warning.
“We stayed in the game, didn’t concede and we scored that first goal ourselves.
“We’re always talking about scoring goals. We’ve been creating opportunities all season, but you still need to finish them.
“Now we’re getting the opportunities and scoring some very good goals.
“After that we took it too easy and invited them to press us a little bit, which you don’t want to do because then they score that goal, get a little bit of confidence and it’s still a bit tense towards the end.”
Stam named an unchanged side for the third game in a row having beaten Barnsley 3-0 four days earlier.
But it was Sunderland who made the early running with George Honeyman firing just wide.
Reading grew into the game and Yann Kermorgant saw an effort flash over the crossbar from outside the box. Edwards then came even closer, latching onto a Kermorgant pass, but he missed the target from close range.
It looked as though the hosts had taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when a cross from Adam Matthews was turned in by McManaman, but referee Keith Stroud adjudged the midfielder to have used an arm and gave him a second yellow card.
And less than 10 minutes after the restart, Reading were ahead when a low Sone Aluko shot was blocked kindly into the path of Edwards to sweep in his second goal of the week.
Former Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone had to be alert to deny a low Honeyman drive and Reading doubled their advantage midway through the half when Liam Kelly’s cross to the back post was well watched by Barrow and volleyed in.
Just three minutes later it was 3-0 after a wonderful team move culminated in Kermorgant flicking the ball inside to Barrow to guide it past the goalkeeper.
Sunderland were awarded a generous penalty when Joel Asoro flung himself to the ground in the closing stages and Grabban, who played in last year’s play-off final for Reading, tucked it away.
But it proved to be too little, too late for the home side.
Reading have a free weekend before hosting Cardiff City on Monday evening (8pm).
“You want to be consistent in this league,” said Stam.
“All teams want that consistency in the Championship.
“So we want to stay in this flow, keep this feeling and keep winning games.
“But, with Cardiff City next up at home, we’ll need to be up for it and show our quality if we want to earn three more points.”
READING: Mannone; Bacuna, McShane (c), Moore, Gunter; van den Berg, Edwards, Kelly (Clement 81); Aluko (Beerens 81), Barrow, Kermorgant (Bodvarsson 90+3).
Subs not used: Jaakkola, Blackett, Ilori, Popa.
Goals: Edwards (53), Barrow x2 (68,71)
Yellow cards: McShane (16), Aluko (43) SUNDERLAND: Ruiter, Matthews, Browning, O’Shea, Oviedo (Galloway 58), Cattermole (Gooch 80), Gibson, McManaman, Honeyman, McGeady (Asoro 68), Grabban.
Subs not used: Steele, Love, Wilson, Maja.
Goal: Grabban (76 pen)
Yellow cards: Cattermole (35) McManaman x2 (15,45+3), Oviedo (43)
Red card: McManaman (45+3)
Referee: Keith Stroud
Attendance: 27,386