After the late win against Stockport County at the beginning of January, things were looking rosy. Lewis Wing’s late winner in that game was the cherry on top of a very impressive festive-period cake.
However, while we’ve seemingly managed to take that momentum into matters away from the pitch – acting bullishly in the market to bring in some much-needed reinforcements – performances on it have taken a notable dip.
The loss at Leyton Orient was as disappointing as it was deserved, and Saturday’s draw against Barnsley was a real missed opportunity.
Tonight’s visitors were Exeter City, and although the latest of those signings (Benn Ward) arrived a bit too late to be ready in time, Leam Richardson was able to name the other three January recruitments in his starting lineup.
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Nyambe, O’Connor, Dorsett, Roberts; Wing, Savage; Kyerewaa, Keane, Doyle; Marriott
Subs: Stevens, Yiadom, Burns, Fraser, Ritchie, Lane, Ehibhatiomhan
Tonight was a game of momentum-shifting goals. Exeter’s opener came after a bright start from us, Will Keane’s equaliser arrived on the verge of half-time, Paudie O’Connor’s header should’ve been the winner, and the visitors’ last-gasp sucker-punch made me virtually rewrite this entire report.
I don’t think we can really question the result. Both teams deserved a draw just about, but there will be frustrations about how we got there after the position we found ourselves in.
Despite that, I’m going to stick my neck out on the line here and say I’m still positive about the direction we’re going in.
Let’s be honest, although a fight for the playoffs would be great, and by the way is still by no means impossible, this second half of the season was always going to be about continuing to build and develop.
Tonight’s performance was by no means riveting. We didn’t tear Exeter apart and put four past them. But – and I know people may not care about this after conceding a late equaliser – there were clear patterns of play and signs of a tactical identity continuing to emerge.
We needed to be better than we were tonight in a lot of areas. Our pace of play and movement off the ball weren’t quick enough through the thirds, we struggled to get the likes of Kamari Doyle, Lewis Wing and Daniel Kyerewaa in areas where they’re most effective, and we lacked the guile and creativity needed to break down a stubborn, well-organised Exeter defence.
In the same breath, it wasn’t all bad either. Ryan Nyambe and Haydon Roberts continue to look like very good fits for their designated roles, Keane grabbed his first goal, and ultimately it was a deflected equaliser that punished us after finding the character to come back from behind.
My overarching feeling right now is there’s a bigger picture at play here. No-one is going to care about a 2-2 draw at home to Exeter if we get promoted in May. I’m by no means saying that is going to happen, but you get my point.
To build sustainable, long-term success you need a way of playing, players who know their roles and responsibilities, an identity, principles, whatever you want to call it.
Whether the style Richardson wants to implement can be one that leads to said success remains to be seen, but at least we can see one being built, and that’s a good starting point.
Without wanting to dig up old graves, the main thing we were lacking earlier in the season was just that. We looked like 11 players who had just been told to go and try and win a game of football without any further information.
We look so much more professional now. We move more cohesively out of possession as a team, each player seems to know what their role is on and off the ball, we’re starting to add real quality to the squad too.
All of that gives me confidence and optimism regardless of the result, and the manner in which it happened, tonight.
Again, that is not to say we were brilliant and improvements don’t need to be made. Both things can be true. But we are a work in progress right now, a team in transition.
While that’s a frustrating place to be and means inconsistency will be the only consistency for a little while, I feel it’s necessary in order to have any kind of long-term success.
I appreciate this is a match report that has spoken little about the 90 minutes it’s supposed to be about. But I don’t think we really learned anything new from the performance, and the bigger picture is more important than tonight’s game in isolation.
That’s an odd thing for me to type, and I would probably be feeling differently if I had made the trip to the SCL and stood there for 90 minutes in the wind and the rain. But I really do believe sometimes you have to sacrifice immediate results for something better down the line.
This could all come back to bite me of course, but I’m still confident in the direction we’re going in under Richardson, and have faith in him to succeed.
Tonight’s result is another tough one to take, but it’s still one loss in eight games, and there’s still a long way to go until May.
