Reading 1-0 Northampton Town: Cobbling Together The Points

An excellent Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan strike in the second half got Reading over the line against Northampton Town on Good Friday.

Expect a very disappointed Easter Bunny on Sunday as it realises it can’t deliver the best presents this weekend, because that title of course belongs to Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.

The forward grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged us over the line today, in a match where, really, most of the quality in the final third was still on holiday, and that’s for both teams.

Charlie Savage curled an early free-kick over the bar following a brilliant Femi Azeez dribble, and although Northampton Town looked confident in possession early on, Reading responded on the counterattack when Clinton Mola cleverly found Sam Smith through the middle. Ben Elliott’s long shot on the right foot could only find the advertising boards beyond Moulden’s far post, however.

We grew into the game around the 10-minute mark, crisply shifting the ball around the midfield and ending in an Azeez cross being bizarrely stopped by the referee for an alleged injury to a Cobblers defender, who, to everyone’s surprise, ended up fine and the drop ball was awarded to the away side.

Amadou Mbengue launched a fantastic ball up to Azeez again, whose flicked header reached Smith. The striker was dubiously called to be offside, but a few moments later our right winger was found again from a diagonal pass from Elliott, where the resulting cross and header was placed agonisingly high from the unmarked Harvey Knibbs at the back post.

There were chances at the other end though too, as Jon Guthrie had a free header directed over in the corridor of uncertainty after a wicked delivery from wide.

On 20 minutes, like the 2001 publication later turned popular film, B. Elliott went into the book, and on the other flank fourth official Andrew Bennett did a great job of marking Mola when the full-back was taking a throw.

Knibbs spun like a ballet dancer and crossed to Smith deep in the box, but the header was frustratingly blocked on the line by Aaron McGowan, and momentum swung the other way, with Northampton forcing a series of saves by Joel Pereira. Dangerman Sam Hoskins came close on two occasions, failing to beat the Portuguese ‘keeper both times.

Although Reading had been edging the game in terms of possession, we gave the ball away cheaply in a number of instances and failed to test the man in between the sticks for Northampton in the first half really.

Elliott, the last man back on one of our corners, was pickpocketed on the halfway line and Pereira bailed us out again, superbly saving one on one with Appere. Elliott left a lot to be desired today, one minute threading an effective through ball going forward, the next getting shunted off the ball, granting the opposition a shooting opportunity.

The atmosphere went into a bit of a lull late into the half, the only chance of note being a speculative finessed effort on Charlie Savage’s left foot, and the game rather curled up and died heading into the break, with Reading exerting a little more control over the game in the closing minutes.

Port Vale, Cambridge United and Cheltenham Town all led 1-0 at half time, making this scrappy affair even more important heading into the second 45.

The lack of any dominance going forward was especially highlighted to me when Tim Dellor read the name of Jeriel Dorsett and I began to question if he was a half-time sub, but no, he’d just had nothing to do as of yet.

The ever-growing Pereira fan club took a rare hit in confidence in the second half as the goalie channelled his inner Steven Gerrard, vastly misjudging the ball and very fortunately getting away with gifting the ball to Louis Appere.

The referee then joined the fourth official in the Clueless Officials' Society as the ball hit him, only granting us the drop ball a light year later, before giving a nothing foul in the Northampton box after a bit of chaos ended in an Azeez header saved and a doubtful free-kick for the visitors.

Despite the antics from the man in the middle, Reading were hardly at their best either, but still managed to muster up a darting Elliott run and a deflected Lewis Wing longshot in the 55th minute. The Royals committed many men forward, but that almost seemed to confuse us as we failed to find the unlocking final pass and Smith spurned a shot, deflected off Elliott and straight into the midriff of the Cobblers goalkeeper.

Guthrie for Northampton again connected with a good cross, this time from a corner, just before Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan was introduced on the left wing, and what an impactful substitution this would prove to be.

Dorsett fed Ehibhatiomhan inside, who slalomed in the box, nutmegging one man. The striker turned winger opened up his body, Thierry Henry esq, and fired the ball with culture and poise just inside the far post. Reading one, Northampton nil.

Ehibhatiomhan continued to look bright, sprinting past his man and driving into the box from the left, but this time was unable to find a cutback in the six-yard area.

Northampton were now the team to grow into the game, laying siege on the South Stand goal heading into the last 20 minutes of normal time in a sequence of nervy crosses and throws, yet when Reading hit on the counter, we struggled to reply to the Cobblers' heavy blows on our defence.

Mitch Pinnock turned on a sixpence to work the space for a longshot which could only sail into Club 1871, with the following goal-kick leading to some unbelievably confident playing-out as always, but still without the finishing move in the final third, as we saw on numerous occasions today.

The visitors made their fourth and fifth changes with nine minutes to play, putting all their eggs in the equaliser basket, and men in maroon and white flooded forward late on in a desperate attempt to snatch a goal.

With Northampton playing so high, Pereira was reduced to kicking long far more than we’d have liked, meaning the ball was getting turned over a lot and getting launched straight back at us. They lacked end product too though, as Pinnock was found at the back post, but the Englishman’s knockdown was harmlessly floated into Big Joel’s grasp.

Both sides were trading big blows at this point. Azeez thundered a shot from a tight angle against Moulden in goal who palmed it out. The corner after was flicked onto Azeez at the back post, who headed just off target onto the top of the crossbar.

Seven minutes added is far too much when trying to hold on to any 1-0 lead, let alone when you’re Reading and too often go to sleep in stoppage time. An anxious header was caught by Pereira, but again a few seconds later he shanked a clearance tamely out for a high Northampton throw.

With two minutes left on the clock, Kelvin Abrefa steamed into Town's left winger with a strong slide tackle, and from that point, it really was evident that the Royals just wanted those points more.

And before you know it, ladies and gents, we’ve won again. Average performance? Possibly. Stunning goal? Undeniable.

Right then, time for a celebratory creme egg.