Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Reading. Sky Bet Championship.
MolineuxAttendance20,425.
Saturday 13 August 2016 17:43, UK
Wolves' new manager Walter Zenga earned his first win in the Championship with an impressive 2-0 victory over Reading at Molineux.
Left-back Matt Doherty made the breakthrough in the 42nd minute and Joe Mason sealed the victory two minutes into the second half.
Zenga's side dominated proceedings from the start and had chances to take a firm grip on the game well before Doherty's opener.
Reading struggled to make any kind of impact of their own as new boss Jaap Stam experienced his first defeat in the role.
A lacklustre display by Stam's side was summed up by the fact that Reading could only muster one shot on target in the whole match when John Swift tried his luck from long range in the 50th minute.
Wolves, who drew 2-2 at Rotherham last weekend in Zenga's first match at the helm, made a fast start and were almost rewarded with a goal after 10 minutes.
Wales international Dave Edwards won the ball in midfield and released Joao Teixeira. He picked out Mason, who cut into the Reading area only to see his shot from 12 yards blocked by Reading goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.
Wolves were by far the more dominant side in the opening exchanges, with Mason and Teixeira dangerous down both flanks.
Reading continued to soak up some intense pressure, with Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and the impressive Teixeira both close to opening the scoring.
It took Reading 30 minutes to fashion a chance of their own, but that came to nothing as Yann Kermorgant saw his speculative volley fly well over the bar.
It was Wolves who continued to boss the match and they were almost gifted a goal by Ali Al Habsi in the 41st minute when his pass was intercepted by Teixeira.
Teixeira rolled the ball into the path of George Saville, who was denied by a stunning one-handed save from Al Habsi, but Wolves only had to wait another 60 seconds for their pressure to finally bring its deserved reward.
On this occasion, there was nothing that Al Habsi could do when Teixeira fed Doherty and the Irish defender cut in from the left wing and let fly from 12 yards with an unstoppable shot.
Once Reading's resistance had been broken, Wolves quickly made the game safe at the start of the second period.
The visitors paid the price for leaving Mason unmarked on the edge of the six yard box, the former Cardiff forward powering home a close-range header from Saville's right-wing corner.
Mason would have helped himself to a second goal but for Al Habsi, who did well to deny him with a smart save after 70 minutes.
Al Habsi then pushed out a fierce drive from Bodvarsson in the 85th minute and denied the Icelandic forward again little more than 60 seconds later as Wolves ended the match as they had begun it - on the attack.
