Reading 2-0 Port Vale: Lewis Is The Wind Beneath Our Wings
Harry’s take as a stunner from Lewis Wing helped Reading to a huge three points against Port Vale.
Backtrack circa 50 minutes and I was sat on my sofa thinking how on earth I was going to be able to write enough that this could pass as a match report. Now I’m sat here thinking how on earth I’m going to keep this concise enough, mainly because of one man.
Saturday is long gone. It was a free hit. Pompey are top of the league, and won’t be in this division for much longer. Forget about it. Even if we may still be living rent free in some Portsmouth fans' heads (for some weird reason).
It was all about tonight, and whether we could start the next run of games - a stretch that will more than likely define our season - on a positive note. However, the first half was far from positive.
Minus the wind, rain, mud-bath pitch and being on the Lancashire coast, it was pretty much de ja vu from this time last week when we went to Fleetwood Town. It was a horrendous game, with neither team able to get a foothold in the match or seemingly string more than three passes together.
Other than two chances for Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan (both of which he should’ve done a lot better with), I can’t remember either team troubling the opposing defence very much at all, let alone the 'keeper.
The highlight of the first half was another poignant protest. Luckily for the Port Vale fans who had travelled from Stoke-on-Trent, this time there was no abandoning of matches going on, just thousands of fans showing Dai Yongge the red card. And, again, it was heartwarming to see the visiting fans join in with this protest, as they did earlier in the year.
However, on the pitch the football was as dismal as the protest was impressive. And the non-event that was the first half was over pretty quickly.
The second half though was a different story. I’m not saying we turned into prime Barcelona - we didn’t blow Port Vale away by any means - but, unfortunately, just how poor the visitors were meant we only really had to take it up a gear or two and we’d put them to the sword.
Even with that said, for large proportions of the second half it looked like it was going to be a classic case of ‘not being our night’ as chances came and went, mainly off the foot of Femi Azeez.
The thing with Azeez is that you can see the good, bad and the ugly of him in not just 90 minutes, but within a matter of seconds. On numerous occasions he’d run at his man, beat him, only to skew his effort or be thwarted by the 'keeper. I’m hearing that one right-footed attempt has only just landed in the B&Q car park.
But where the likes of Ehibhatiomhan and Azeez failed, one man didn’t. Lewis bloody Wing. There is just no way he should be playing League One football. I made audible sounds that grown men don’t usually make when his goal went in. A strike as sweet as it was ferocious, and as beautiful as it was significant.
We have quality all over the pitch, but largely that quality only comes out in spurts. This guy is consistently good for 90 minutes every single week. He’s our best player, it’s as simple as that.
If there was a chart with ‘number of games Lewis Wing plays’ on the X axis and ‘Reading’s chances of staying up on the Y axis’, the result would be a perfect positive correlation (I knew that C in maths GCSE would come in handy one day).
From that moment you could almost see the weight lift off the shoulders of the players. I’m sure this was a game they knew they needed to win, and nerves and pressure were probably paying a part in the performance up until that point.
Of course, the game was equally as important for the visitors, so they had to give it a go to try and get back into the game. This in turn created more spaces for us, and mere minutes after Wing’s wonder strike, Harvey Knibbs slammed home a rebound to put the result beyond any doubt.
Not a perfect performance by any stretch of the imagination, but an absolutely massive three points. And there were still some really impressive individual showings too. Of course, the aforementioned Wing, and, despite his lack of end product, Azeez was also a nuisance all evening.
The Tyler Bindon and Amadou Mbengue partnership at the back continues to grow stronger with each passing game, and the likes of Knibbs and Sam Smith ran themselves into the ground as they always do. I’m sure David Button will also be thanking his lucky stars that the goalkeeper gods gave him a quieter evening after Saturday’s debacle.
So all in all a very good night’s work. But it’s only the beginning of what are the most important few games in our season so far.