ROYALS TAKE BIG STEP TOWARDS SECURING LEAGUE ONE SAFETY
Bristol Rovers 0 Reading 2
READING took a massive step towards securing League One safety as they earned three points away to Bristol Rovers to move further clear of the relegation places.
Sam Smith netted an early opener before a superb Lewis Wing free-kick gave the Royals a 2-0 lead on the stroke of half-time.
A professional performance saw Ruben Selles’ men hold out to gain maximum points.
Following defeats for both Cheltenham Town and Fleetwood Town, the Royals now sit nine points above the drop zone.
Smith opened the scoring with eight minutes on the clock when an Amadou Mbengue long throw caused panic in the Bristol box and the forward latched onto Tyler Bindon’s header and nodded into the roof of the net.
It was a dominant opening half from Reading who controlled the play and created chances to add to their lead and came close when Clinton Mola floated a ball into the box for Smith who saw his header brilliantly stopped down low by Jed Ward.
The visitors had the chance to double their advantage when Harvey Knibbs would taken down just before he entered the box.
Wing came up with another moment of magic to see Reading rewarded for their first-half efforts with the resulting free-kick as he slammed the ball into the top right hand corner.
Rovers tried to reply in the second-half to try and claw their
way back into the contest and came closest when Scott Sinclair smacked an effort that had beat goalkeeper Joel Pereira only to be prevented on the line by a crucial diving header from Bindon.
The Gas had another chance to reduce the deficit when Brandon Aguilera hit a shot goalwards and with a deflection on the way through, Pereira got down to make an excellent block.
That was enough to secure a clean sheet and three hard earned points as Bristol failed to find the net for a seventh consecutive game, while Reading boosted their hopes of survival.
Reading are now in 17th position on 49 points with just three matches left to play.
Now nine points above the relegation zone, six teams below Reading do have games in hand but would need to find some spectacular form to try and catch the Royals who also have a much seprior goal difference compared with all the teams around them.
Reading have the chance to mathematically secure their spot in League One next season when they travel to face Barnsley at Oakwell on Saturday.
The Tykes are currently in a fight to finish in the play-off spots and are in fifth position on 74 points.
BRISTOL ROVERS: Ward, Connolly, Gordon, Ward, Thomas, Taylor, Brown, Evans, Conteh, McCormick, Hoole
SUBS: Cox, Wilson, Sinclair, Aguilera, Rossitier,
Martin, Hunt
READING: Pereira, Mola, Mbengue, Bindon, Yiadom, Elliott, Wing, Knibbs, Azeez, Ehibhatiomhan, Smith
SUBS: Button, Savage, Mukairu, Wareham,
Dorsett, Abrefa, Craig
GOALS: Smith 8’, Wing 45’