Reading rediscovered their goalscoring touch by winning a five-goal thriller against Fulham at Elm Park this evening.
Royals manager Ian Branfoot kept the faith with the same starting eleven that had drawn with Huddersfield on Saturday and was rewarded as Trevor Senior and Stuart Beavon established a 2-0 lead for the home side three minutes into the second half. Fulham fought back to level matters through Justin Skinner and Andy Sayer, but an own goal from visiting midfielder Ronnie Mauge with four minutes to play handed Reading all three points.
Mauge watched in horror as his backpass towards Jim Stannard rolled into an empty net because the Fulham number one had drifted off his line. The midfielder dashed back to try and rectify his mistake but couldn’t catch up with his pass and Branfoot’s boys registered their only their third league win of the season.
The home side probably deserved their first win in row for the way they went at their opposition from the outset. They benefited from some dreadful defending as Jeff Eckhardt left his backpass woefully short allowing Senior to step onto the loose ball and smash a shot past Stannard despite an acute angle to give Reading the lead on the half hour mark. The relief was felt all around Elm Park as the Royals ended their scoreless streak after six hours and 46 minutes without a goal.
Eckhardt dwelt on the ball ten minutes later only for Senior to miss the target but there were signs of promise when it came to the striker’s new partnership with David Leworthy. The latter went close towards the end of the first half with a curling effort from the edge of the box that drew a sharp save from Stannard.
The hosts doubled their lead early in the second half when John Deakin pointed to the spot after Gavin Nebbeling had handled a cross from Michael Gilkes. Beavon stepped up to sent Stannard the wrong way from twelve yards – swiftly exorcising his demons from a missed spot-kick against Huddersfield on Saturday afternoon.
Fulham grabbed themselves a lifeline eight minutes later when Steve Richardson caught Steve Milton in the Reading area and Skinner decisively dispatched the spot-kick past Steve Francis. That was the first time that the Reading goalkeeper had been beaten in four games and he was soon picking the ball out of his net again when Sayer smashed an equaliser low into the net after being released by a superb Skinner pass.
The Whites looked to have done enough to rescue a point from a desperate position but that was reckoning without Mauge’s backpass that handed victory to the Royals.
READING: Francis; Hicks, Wood, Richardson, Jones, Beavon, Knight, Taylor, Gilkes, Leworthy, Senior. Subs (not used): Williams, Conroy.
GOALS: Senior (30), Beavon (pen 48), Mauge (o.g. 86)
FULHAM: Stannard; Eckhardt, Langley, Nebbeling, Marshall, Scott, Donnellan, Skinner, Mauge, Walker (Davies 83), Sayer. Subs (not used): Watson.
BOOKED: Sayer.
GOALS: Skinner (pen 56), Sayer (69).
REFEREE: John Deakin.
ATTENDANCE: 4,743.
