The Championship promotion hopefuls laboured to a 2-1 win over relegation battlers Wolverhapton Wanderers, they’ll gladly take that result against Newcastle on Tuesday.
Reading manager Jaap Stam
Question marks were raised over Reading’s play-off credentials following a highly fortunate 2-1 Championship victory over struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Royals were far from their best against a side who, going into this fixture, had lost their previous four league matches on the bounce, and needed a Paul McShane header in the 78th minute to snatch the points.
Jaap Stam’s side were lethargic, sloppy on the ball and barely created anything of note to the point that a neutral watching the game would have wondered who was in the top six and who was staring relegation in the face.
However, while these are undoubtedly criticisms that Stam must work hard to resolve for their next Championship fixture against table toppers Newcastle United, if the Royals perform poorly against the Magpies and yet still win, very few fans will complain.
Reading’s Yann Kermorgant attempts an overhead kick
The fact that Reading put in such a poor performance by their own high standards this season, and still finished the game with three points, is testament to their ability to win both ugly and by playing badly.
To finish in the play-offs, you do need some luck – by performing well below 100% and still coming away with the win suggests that Reading’s luck may well be in ahead of a vital time in the season.
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