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Reading headed into the Carabao Cup fixture looking for their first win in all competitions (including pre-season friendlies) since April, and they duly delivered with an impressive performance against a much-changed Birmingham City.
A brilliant team goal opened the scoring, capped with an emphatic finish by Yakou Meite, and John Swift doubled the lead in the second half with a sumptuous free kick that dipped and swerved out of the reach of Lee Camp. Here’s what the Reading fans had to say about the win and some of the key moments of Tuesday night...
Liam Moore
It was pretty obvious before the game that this was going to be the fixture that saw Liam Moore integrated back into the side, but the question was how would his return be greeted by the Reading faithful? For the majority, very well.
Moore was also given the armband by Clement in the absence of Paul McShane, and slotted back in seamlessly with a typically solid display. Let’s have a look at what some of the Reading fans thought of Moore’s return.
Anyone questioning Moore’s commitment to #readingfc shouldn’t have...100% and a great leader
— Mason Man (@Macey1) August 14, 2018
Liam Moore Captain ⚪️ #readingfc
— Joshua Lamb (@lambeyyy1871) August 14, 2018
The teams are out and we're almost ready to go. Big cheer as captain Liam Moore's name is read out. #ReadingFC
— Tom Crocker (@TomJCrocker) August 14, 2018
Mo Barrow
Without doubt, Mo Barrow is one of Reading’s most powerful attacking weapons. His pace and trickery is enough to frighten most of the defenders in this league and Reading need him in the team consistently if they are going to challenge towards the top end of the table.
So, I think every Reading fan had their heart in their mouths when he went off injured midway through the first half on Tuesday night. With Sone Aluko, Garath McCleary and Adrian Popa all sidelined at the moment, it may leave the Royals with very little options on the wing. Here’s how Reading FC Twitter reacted to the Gambian’s injury...
Huge shame to lose Modou Barrow to injury. Looked bright as always. Hope he recovers quickly as the injuries to Reading wingers are really piling up. #readingfc pic.twitter.com/jLoRZT1mRX
— Talk Reading (@TalkReading) August 14, 2018
McNulty and Baldock look very good. Meite a massive threat too. Very good first half that. Hopefully Barrow injury isn’t too bad #readingfc
— Alex Stone (@_alexgstone) August 14, 2018
Good start from #readingfc but tailed off after scoring. Barrow injury awful news, given that he is always the chief attacking threat and the position has been absolutely decimated. Never known a club to have such persistent, widespread injury issues. Every single year.
— George Flood (@GeorgeFlood24) August 14, 2018
Yeah this is why Barrow shouldn't have played.... #readingfc
— Nath St Paul (@NathStPaul) August 14, 2018
A win... finally!
Reading have been searching for a win since a scrappy (but very important) 1-0 victory over Preston in April. The long wait finally came to an end on Tuesday night, which is the least Reading deserve considering their impressive performances in the opening two games of the season.
Marc McNulty and Sam Baldock linked up very effectively together, Meite looked very good once again and Swift showed signs of rediscovering his form from Stam’s first season. Tuesday night’s victory was a massive monkey off the back and now Reading can look forward to Saturday afternoon against Bolton with confidence of getting another win. Reading fans on Twitter certainly reacted well to the 2-0 win...
Not often as a #readingfc fan I wake up to a win and a clean sheet
— Nick Crook (@nickmightyroyal) August 15, 2018
Nice to see a Reading win tonight, even in the cup against a poor opposition. Hopefully that confidence boost we needed #readingfc
— Paulo (@gutted27) August 14, 2018
Quality all over the park tonight, get a win Saturday and we’re be up and running #readingfc
— Matty Dempster (@DempsterRfc) August 14, 2018
Great to get a win under our belts, hopefully we've now got some confidence to get some wins in the league. Some really positive signs, nice attacking football on show. Good performances from Walker, Yiadom, O'Shea, Meite, Baldock and McNulty. #readingfc
— Harrison Mitchell (@harrison1871rfc) August 14, 2018
Conclusion
Tuesday night was a comfortable win - not every game will be against a second-string Birmingham City team, but the confidence that win will give the team is vital. Hopefully the boys can kick on now and start getting positive results in the league starting on Saturday afternoon against Bolton. Let’s all get behind the boys.
URZ!