Report | Reading 4-1 Crawley Town

THREE POINTS SECURED IN FRONT OF THE ROYALS FAITHFUL

A clinical display from Reading saw Rubén Sellés' Royals record a 4-1 home victory against Crawley Town at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Crawley kicked us off in RG2 as competitive football returned to RG2 for the first time since the international break, and the Royals hit the ground running in a bid to make a fast start in the game.

The opening exchanges saw the hosts lot to seize the initiative, with Mbengue asking questions of the Crawley defence with two long throws into the box.

A first shot in the game came on the eight minute mark following good play on the right hand side by Charlie Savage and Adrian Akande. The latter would place a cross into the box in the direction of an expectant Sam Smith, but his shot was blocked at close range by Wollacott in the Crawley goal - and the offside flag had also been raised.

The visitors had a huge chance to take the lead themselves on ten minutes, with William Swan looking to place a shot into the bottom right hand corner after finding space in the box. David Button was equal to the effort, and whilst the parry landed at the feet of Armando Quitrna, he could on find the side netting.

At the Club 1871 end of the stadium, Akande once more found space to send a teasing ball into the Red Devils' box, but a Reading player was unable to latch onto the ball and Wollacott was able to smother easily. It signalled the end of a fast paced opening 15 minutes in RG2, with both teams showing real intent going forward.

The lively Akande has our first chance of not on 19 minutes, and he can thank his sheer determination for creating the opening. Initially he found himself with a Joy Mukena between himself and the ball, but a burst of pace allowed him to get goalside of the defender and fire a shot that was well saved by Wollacott down to his right.

The Royals didn't have to wait long to break the deadlock, with Amadou Mbengue notching his first goal of the season in the 21st minute. A sliced shot from Charlie Savage fell kindly to the centre-back in unfamiliar territory, and the Senegalese made no mistake slotting into the bottom right hand corner on the swivel.

Not content with putting the ball in the Crawley net, Mbengue pulled off a miraculous block to stop the visitors equalising in ours. A mix up at the back saw Quitirna shot goalwards from six yards for what seemed like a certain goal, but the lightning quick feet of our centre back was able to divert wide.

The visitors pressed once more with Will Swan firing a deflected effort millimeters wide of the far post, the Crawley intent clear that they wanted a quick route back into the game. They didn't have to wait long, as Harry Forster got parity for the Red Devils on the half hour mark. The Royals were unable to clear the danger, and the midfilder slotted a deflected home from 12 yards.

In the aftermath of the goal, a period of relative calm would follow, perhaps an indications of the frenetic pace of the opening third of the game. Max Anderson went into the referee's book for a foul inflicted whilst a Reading advantage took place.

It looked as though the half would peter out with both sides happy to regroup at the break, but Lewis Wing had other ideas. Picking the ball up from all of 30 yards, the skipper did what he does best and fired a thunderbolt of a shot goalwards. Flying off his boot at a rate of knots, Wollacott was helpless as the effort sailed into the top right hand corner of the net - a bolt from the blue to give the Royals the lead once more.

Perhaps stunned from what Wing had produced, the half ended with little incident, and the Royals went in a goal to the good at the midway point.

Half-time: Reading 2-1 Crawley Town