Reading 0-2 Bournemouth: Player Ratings

Luke Southwood: 6

I can't remember him having to do all that much to be honest, bar picking the ball out of his net a couple of times. Made a decent stop in the bottom corner from long range.

His kicking, bar the odd mishap, continues to be good. A few nice chips upfield kept Reading moving.

Andy Yiadom: 7

On the basis of the full game, he stood out to me more than anyone else. Put in a few crunching tackles (one bizarrely penalised), and often looked adept at driving upfield with the ball to put Reading on the attack. Room for improvement with end product, but still impressive.

Liam Moore: 6

Didn't ever look massively under pressure, with Bournemouth happy with their two-goal lead rather than pressing forwards. A few good blocks.

Scott Dann: 6

Really showed his class tonight. No major worries defensively, and looked supremely confident in bringing the ball out. Was more than happy to take an opposition player on and take the ball past them. Almost pulled a goal back late on when his powerful header was denied by a flying stop.

Baba Rahman: 6

His first-half attacking looked like some of the best he's had at Reading so far. Got forward well, linked up with Ejaria nicely and put in a good cross from which Swift's shot was blocked. Less impact after the break.

Danny Drinkwater: 4

As much as we all want to judge Drinkwater on his build-up play, as a deep-lying midfielder he needs to be composed in his own third, and he wasn't tonight. Robbed too easily in the build-up for the second, and gave up a cheap corner for the first - even if the job of defending that set piece was the decisive element.

Tom Dele-Bashiru: 5

Once more asked to play on the right side of midfield, and it didn't really work. He's a serviceable option there and has good moments, getting back well to cover defensively, but can only do so much offensively when he lacks the pace and directness Reading require.

Josh Laurent: 5

Started the game next to Drinkwater in a double pivot, but had the license to get forward and seemed to be on the right wing at our point in the second half. Looked a little out of place really, despite a few good moments. Really should have done better in the first half when charging at the box, with Puscas open to play in, but he blasted an effort off target instead.

John Swift: 6

On another day, I'm sat here writing about Swift going home with a couple of assists. He was magnificent on one occasion, putting in a rabona cross that Puscas should have volleyed home. Don't forget his late free kick, powered goalwards by a Dann header that drew an excellent save.

Ovie Ejaria: 5

Did well in the first half, looking notably sharper both going forwards and defensively. But he faded in the second half, looking ineffective when Reading were trying to claw their way back into the match.

George Puscas: 4

To pinch a line from Olly Allen, who summed up Puscas' performance nicely after the game: "There are 4s for being anonymous and 4s for missing chances. This is the latter."

The frustration with Puscas has often been around his lack of service, but it was a distinctly different issue tonight. Puscas had chances - a few ones of good quality - but couldn't convert. A more in-form, confident striker probably buries at least one.

On the brighter side, in open play during Reading's spell on top, he looked good. Nice linkup, putting himself about well and linking nicely with Swift - including a one-two that ended with him firing wide from an offside position.

I'm not convinced Jahmari Clarke will be an upgrade, in the short term at least, but with Puscas' confidence evidently so low, Clarke may be worth a go.

Substitutes

Jahmari Clarke: N/A

Not on the pitch long enough to make an impact, which says plenty about the poor timing of the sub from Pauno. It was too late to be useful.

Average: 5.45/10

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