Sheffield Wednesday vs Reading. Sky Bet Championship.
HillsboroughAttendance22,199.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Hillsborough
Saturday 15 February 2020 18:40, UK
Reading ended their run of seven Sky Bet Championship games without a victory after a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at the Madejski Stadium.
Goals from Yakou Meite and George Puscas in addition to a Sam Baldock penalty guided the Royals home.
The results means that Wednesday, who had to play for most of the second half with 10 men after having Osaze Urhoghide sent off, have now won just once in their last 10 league outings.
Wednesday boss Garry Monk made four changes with Urhoghide, Joey Pelupessy, Kadeem Harris and Atdhe Nuhiu returning to the starting line-up. Barry Bannan and Tom Lees were among those to miss out, dropping down to bench.
The Reading line-up showed three changes with manager Mark Bowen recalling Andy Rinomhota, Michael Olise and Omar Richards.
The hosts were the first to create an opening when Fernando Forestieri broke clear and found Harris who forced a save from Rafael Cabral. Richards cleared as Alessio Da Cruz looked to pounce on the rebound.
Meite gave Reading a 21st-minute lead, tapping past Cameron Dawson after getting on the end of a great through ball into the area from Ovie Ejaria.
Urhoghide made an important block as Olise looked to find Meite.
Liam Palmer, captaining Wednesday in the absence of Lees, played a good ball into the box which just evaded Da Cruz and Nuhiu.
As Reading looked for a second goal before the break, John Swift set up Ejaria whose effort went over.
The Wednesday line-up showed one change after the interval with Bannan taking over from Pelupessy in midfield.
Wednesday were reduced to 10 men in the 49th minute when Urhoghide received a second booking after bringing down Ejaria.
Meite failed to direct his header on target after meeting a Swift cross.
Forestieri went close with an effort from outside the area.
Substitute Jacob Murphy, a few minutes after joining the action, was the next to pose a threat to the visitors, beating his man before delivering a dangerous ball into the area but there was no-one there to apply the finish.
Swift put an effort on target but it was straight at Dawson, who made a comfortable save.
Puscas (72) increased Reading's lead, getting the final touch following good work from Charlie Adam.
Ejaria had a chance to pile further misery on the hosts when he was one-on-one with Dawson, but the keeper did well to save.
Murphy then fired an effort on target from outside the area, but it failed to seriously test Cabral.
Baldock completed the scoring in stoppage time, finding the net from the penalty spot after Dominic Iorfa fouled Rinomhota inside the area.
Sheffield Wednesday's Garry Monk: "Every day is a tough day at the moment and of course it's extremely difficult. It's a cycle that we can't seem to break. I'm trying everything I can and working as hard as I can to try and break that cycle. It's very difficult but the key is to fight and keep fighting and stick together.
"Of course, I understand that the results aren't good enough and the run that we're on isn't good enough. There's a lack of confidence and fragility about us so something needs to change. I've said from the very start that this is a very big job and I've talked a lot about change. My aim is to get to that point where I can physically change that."
Reading's Mark Bowen: "I was delighted with the performance and the result. The conditions were awful, but I asked the players to show football intelligence and I thought we did that in the first half. When we get things right, we are a match for any team in this league. I know that. We needed to start the game quite fast. In the first 10 minutes, I didn't think we were as I wanted us to be, but we then took control.
"It was important that after getting our noses in front that we built on that. Yakou Meite has been telling me that he's been wanting to play in a more central role, but he is more comfortable coming in off that right side. He's into double figures on goals now but it's not just that. His goals are fantastic but it's the work he continually did. It was a great all-round performance from him."
