Reading stunned by home loss to Burton Albion
Posted Sunday, December 24, 2017 by PA
Reading fell to a dismal 2-1 Championship defeat at home to lowly Burton Albion, whose battling victory boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation.
Burton went in front five minutes before the break when defender Tom Flanagan jabbed home for a rare goal.
Reading equalised in the 76th minute through leading scorer Mo Barrow's seventh goal of the season.
But Burton regained the lead five minutes later when Liam Moore's intended clearance cannoned off Albion's Tom Naylor and into the home net.
Reading had surrendered their five-match unbeaten run when losing 2-0 at Ipswich last Saturday.
Burton ended a sequence of five games without a victory when winning 1-0 at fellow strugglers Bolton.
In the 500th first-team match at Madejski Stadium, since the club moved from Elm Park in 1998, Reading began sluggishly.
Burton forced the early pace, with Lucas Akins misdirecting an intended deep cross from the right when well positioned.
Reading replied through the pace of Barrow on the left flank but he failed to trouble the Burton defence despite a number of promising runs.
Full-back Leandro Bacuna did better on the right, with a firm, low cross that had Burton goalkeeper Stephen Bywater in two minds.
However, after Bywater decided not to come for the ball, Reading had no one on hand to supply the vital touch.
Having survived the scare, Burton twice ventured forward to try to test home keeper Vito Mannone.
Akins' shot carried little power and Mannone saved easily. Flanagan then sent a 20-yard effort high over the crossbar.
Another good cross from Bacuna was eventually cleared to safety before Reading fashioned their first goal attempt - on the half-hour mark.
Sone Aluko struck his effort well from outside the Burton area but Bywater gathered it without too much trouble.
Burton went ahead in the 40th minute, when Akins hurled in a long throw from the right.
The Reading defence failed to deal with it and Flanagan was allowed to steal in for his first goal in five years.
Reading were jeered off at half-time and the mood of their fans did not improve as Burton threatened early in the second half.
Lloyd Dyer glanced a header off target from an Akins cross and Will Miller miscued an attempt from the edge of the home area.
Burton defended deeper as the game wore on but were breached 14 minutes from the end when Barrow guided in Liam Kelly's precise pass.
However, a comedy of errors in the Reading defence gifted Burton their winner.
Moore's attempted clearance thumped against Naylor, with the ball ricocheting back inside the home area and past a startled Mannone.
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