Cardiff City 1-1 Reading: Player Ratings

Rafael: 6

A relatively quiet evening for the goalkeeper. Distribution was a little shaky at times, but he made a fantastic save down to his right to deny Danny Ward just minutes after Cardiff’s equaliser.

Tom McIntyre: 5

Not the academy graduate’s best game as he was the weak link in the back three at times, partly down to the fact that Cardiff seemed to be targeting him as such. Carried the ball out of defence well though.

Michael Morrison: 6

Largely solid at the back and on hand to make plenty of clearances when the ball was in a dangerous position. Difficult to judge how much the goal conceded was his fault - while a header back towards your own goal is naive, Morrison may have been left with little other choice, and the Reading players around him should have reacted quicker when the ball came back off the post.

Liam Moore: 6

One of those defenders who should have reacted quicker was Moore, whose man was seemingly the goalscorer Paterson. Other than that though, the captain had a decent game with a couple of key interceptions.

Chris Gunter: 7

Gunter is not unused to playing as a wing-back at the Cardiff City Stadium, and he had strong game. Good defensively when he needed to be, he was given a lot of space on the right flank and attacked well, putting in a couple of good crosses.

Pele: 7

Proved once again to be an influential defensive shield, and commanded the midfield well. Looked calm on the ball, knowing when to make the right pass. Faded in the second half, but another overall impressive performance.

Ovie Ejaria: 5

Becoming increasingly frustrating to watch. A number of times a brilliant Ovie skill was met with a round of applause, only to be followed by a collective sigh as he didn’t do anything with the ball afterwards.

John Swift: 6

Reading looked to find Swift at almost every opportunity, and most of the team’s creativity came through him, including Meite’s goal, which the midfielder got the assist for. Yet on too many occasions Swift’s through balls were over hit, and he became more anonymous as the game went on.

Jordan Obita: 5

Defensively unconvincing, Obita was only slightly better going forward as he got into good positions but consistently let himself down with poor deliveries.

Yakou Meite: 6

Gave Reading the lead early on, which boosts his rating. Had a couple of opportunities later on in the game too, and he worked well to get into good positions, but it just wouldn’t happen for him.

Sam Baldock: 4

It’s difficult to grade a striker when they’re so isolated for so much of the game and it isn’t necessarily all their fault. Baldock was involved in Reading’s goal, but struggled against the imposing centre-back pair of Morrison and Nelson, limiting him to just 16 touches in 83 minutes.

Substitutes

Charlie Adam: 6

Heavily involved following his arrival on the pitch, as he seemed more assertive than most to try and carve out a winning goal. Wasn’t to be.

George Puscas: N/A

Omar Richards: N/A

Average: 5.75/10

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