Defeat sees Royals stuck in relegation battle zone
Sheffield Wednesday 3 Reading 0
PAUL CLEMENT says Reading will remain deep in relegation trouble if they repeat Saturday’s horror show at Hillsborough in their remaining two games of the campaign.
A Fernando Forestieri brace and George Boyd strike condemned the Royals to a 3-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday and things went from bad to worse when Tyler Blackett was sent off in the closing stages.
Despite the loss, Clement’s men remain in 19th, five points clear of the bottom three with games running out for others to catch up.
But the boss was far from pleased with what he saw in Sheffield.
“I’m disappointed with the manner of the performance,” said Clement.
“In football you can lose games, but I wasn’t happy with the way we lost. We have to do better than that.
“Some of the things that I saw in the first half were quite positive. We had a couple of chances ourselves before going behind.
“The first half was quite even, but in the second half the manner of their two goals, the nature of the defending for those two goals was really poor.”
He added: “The second half performance was not at the level we expected, nowhere near good enough.
“We’ve got to buck our ideas up because if we play like we did in that second half, we’re going to be in trouble.
“We have to stop relying on other results elsewhere, we have to get our own game in order.”
Clement made two changes from the draw against Sunderland last time out with Blackett and Joey van den Berg replacing Omar Richards and Dave Edwards.
The hosts started the better of the two sides with Forestieri curling off target but Reading went close to breaking the deadlock when Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s close-range shot was blocked.
Soon after, Wednesday got in front. Boyd broke down the left before teeing up Daniel Pudil, who picked out Forestieri unmarked in the box and the forward lashed in, via a deflection off Tiago Ilori.
That lead was doubled seven minutes after the restart after more slack defending from the Royals. Forestieri was again at the heart of the move before Adam Reach danced past van den Berg and fired across goal where Boyd got in front of Gunter to stab in.
A teasing low cross from Mo Barrow almost yielded a goal at the other end before Aluko jinked past three defenders and saw his shot blocked.
But any hopes of a comeback were dashed when weak defending again proved to be Reading’s downfall with Forestieri riding two challenges before firing high into the net from the edge of the box.
And as if the away day could not get any worse, Blackett was shown a straight red card for petulantly kicking out at Atdhe Nuhiu off the ball.
John Swift tried his luck for a late consolation, but was off target on a forgettable afternoon. Reading now host Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon (3pm). “Games are running out and we have to get a win,” said Clement.
“If you’re relying on other results you’re playing a really dangerous game.
“And we have to move on quickly. We’ve got two games to go and we need to win one of those games.
“Ipswich is a massive game and the players have to turn it around in front of our home fans.
“We’ve been doing well at home since I’ve been here, we’ve won two and drawn one and next Saturday at home will be vital.”
READING: Mannone, Gunter (c), Moore, Ilori, Blackett, van den
Berg (Kermorgant 58), Kelly,
Aluko (Clement 83), Swift, Barrow, Bodvarsson (Richards 78).
Subs not used: Jaakkola, Rinomhota, Edwards, Martin.
Red card: Blackett (76)
SHEFF WED: Dawson, Venancio (Kirby 78), Lees (c), Pudil, Hunt (Nuhiu 69), Pelupessy, Bannan, Reach, Boyd, Forestieri, Rhodes (Joao 68).
Subs not used: Wildsmith, Jones, Matias, Nielsen.
Goals: Forestieri x2 (34,73), Boyd (52) Referee: Jeremy Simpson Attendance: 24,373