BINDON GRABS A POINT IN CONTROVERSIAL CONTEST
READING FC are still six points above the relegation zone after Tyler Bindon’s late header secured a point against in-form Lincoln City.
The Royals had felt aggrieved not to have been given a firsthalf penalty after a Jack Moylan handball on the line.
They then fell behind to a Freddie Draper header before Bindon nodded in from a corner to level the game.
The only side below Reading to pick up a point were Port Vale which means there are still several teams left in the relegation dog fight.
Ruben Selles decided to make three changes following his team’s heavy defeat at Bolton on Monday.
Club captain Andy Yiadom returned to the side for the first time since his suspension against Derby.
Ben Elliott was selected to play alongside Lewis Wing in central midfield, while Paul Mukairu was given the nod to start on the leftwing following his consolation goal at Bolton.
The Imps, who had scored 20 goals in their last five matches, started brightly to try and force an opening as Reading gave the ball away cheaply on a couple of occasions in the early moments.
After getting a foothold in the game, Reading’s first promising move of the match was orchestrated by Lewis Wing who picked out Sam Smith down the channel and his cut back was fired over by Ben Elliott.
Harvey Knibbs went to ground
in the box searching for a penalty, but went down all too easily for the referee’s liking and was told to get back to his feet.
Reading will be racking their brains as to how they didn’t score the opening goal with just over half an hour gone.
Some persistent work from Harvey Knibbs saw him slide in to win the ball and cut back for Femi Azeez who had his shot blocked off the line, the follow up fell for Paul Mukairu who looked destined
to score, but also saw his effort blocked.
It proved to be a controversial moment in the match as replays clearly showed that Jack Moylan had blocked the ball with his arm, but the referee deemed it not to be a handball after the player fell to ground holding his face.
The Royals had the final chance of the half when Azeez teed up Knibbs in the box, he cushioned the ball with a touch before smacking the bouncing ball over the target.
Neither side were able to edge themselves in front early in the second-half as a scrappy opening 15 minutes occurred with a few breaks in play to treat injuries.
Azeez looked to open the game up with a moment of magic which saw him breeze past his full-back, but he wasn’t able to keep his shot down as his left foot curler flew over the top.
With a little over 20 minutes of normal time left, Selles made a double switch which saw Clinton Mola and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan
replace Dorsett and Mukairu.
The Imps had the advantage on 73 minutes when Freddie Draper met a deep cross and planted a header past Joel Pereira who was only able to palm the ball into the net.
The Royals were level in the 83rd minute when Wing’s corner delivery was nodded in by Bindon who netted his first goal at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
That proved to be the final goal of the game as the teams had to settle for a point each.