Exeter City 1-2 Reading: Player Ratings

Reading had to hold on in a dangerous second half, but an excellent first half performance is enough to pick up a first away win of the season

Joel Pereira: 7

Returned to the lineup as soon as he was ready to go, and had little to do in the first half other than aerially celebrate both Reading goals!

The second half was a different story, as Pereira did everything he could to keep Reading in it when momentum totally swung towards Exeter. Got a hand to the rocketed Exeter goal, and made four saves and several key claims in the air on the way to the win.

Still not quite as good with his feet as Button, and kicked it long more often than he went short, which caused issues at times when he chose poor targets for his long balls (35% accuracy rate). Did his first job as a GK perfectly though and helped keep Exeter out.

Michael Craig: 6

Scored his first league goal (much to John Clarke’s amusement - see Twitter) by leaping on a rebound from the goalkeeper and slotting it into the corner. Helped cap off a great first half for Reading with that involvement, and was generally very defensively solid in the first half.

Struggled much more in the second half as Exeter changed their shape and often attacked down the wings. Got outnumbered, but should have had more help from Akande and Elliott in particular at times.

That said, he struggled with letting his man inside a few times, and multiple crosses came off from his side.

All in all still helped Reading progress the ball though, making a very impressive 12 passes into the final third.

Amadou Mbengue: 7

Probably Reading’s best player tonight, being tasked with both his own defensive duties, and needing to be moved over to the LCB position to support a struggling Garcia in the second half. Cleaned up a lot of balls over the top and had the beating of every Exeter attacker in the first half, only being dribbled past once.

In the second half as Exeter shifted systems, Garcia often ended up having the ball played behind him low to a sprinting winger, who often appeared to be clean through or ready for a cross until Mbengue appeared from nowhere.

Eventually moved all the way out to LB when Garcia was subbed off. Booked for taking just a few seconds too long for one of his long throw ins, then proceeded to take just as long for the rest of them, even at one point being “unaware” he was needed for a throw in on the other side, and helping Reading to waste time.

Even sprung Reading clear for a chance they should have scored from right at the death.

Tyler Bindon: 7

So so calm on the ball in the first half, helping Reading to pass out with seeming ease but make no mistake: what he does isn’t easy. Bindon always knows where he’s going next with the ball before it arrives, and is just as comfortable playing first time, or just putting his studs on it and baiting in a presser.

If a despairing attacker did get close enough to Bindon to block his opinions, he’d calmly play the ball over the top in the first half, connecting on 6 long balls.

Lost one duel all day, and cleared the ball out seven times as the players in front of him allowed the ball to come into his defence at pace.

Andre Garcia: 5

The first half today was an improvement on his performance against Crawley, and Garcia won several duels today, even good in the air in the first half.

We saw a flash of his ability to get forward when he produced a fantastic back foot step around a pressing attacker before driving into the Exeter half and pushing the ball forwards for Ehibhatiomhan to create a chance that had to be well saved by the keeper.

Unfortunately, has to be marked down because Selles had to make two moves to cover the defensive deficiencies on display. First Selles moved Mbengue across to the left side to help Garcia, before eventually hooking Garcia for the final 20 minutes.

The largest issue was one on display against Crawley, whereby he leaves too large of a seam between himself and the LCB, and struggles to track a low ball through that seam to another attacker.

It is worth remembering he’s just 16, and the knowledge of how to beat that trick will come, but right now it’s a targetable issue for Reading’s defence.

Lewis Wing: 5

Didn’t get too many chances to shoot today: perhaps not surprising given his goal against Crawley was on every EFL social media account. Put the only shot hat he didn’t see blocked straight at the goalkeeper (though with enough pace to almost loop over a weak wrist). In total, touched the ball in the box just once all day.

Not his best showing in the second half, and struggled to put his foot on the ball and help Reading to retain possession, losing the ball a few times and not winning a tackle all night. Lost seven of his nine duels and chose the wrong time to jump in a few times.

Charlie Savage: 5

Earned his place in the team tonight, bumping Elliott out of the lineup for the first time this season with his good performance against Crawley. Unfortunately, just couldn’t get on the ball much in the game, touching it just 24 times but did help to create one golden chance. A lot of the play went down Chem’s side, with the balls to the left side being high and long for Kelvin.

Had a chance to make the second half a whole lot easier for Reading when an early chance to bury the ball fell to him. Shot the ball low and hard but couldn’t push it wide enough to beat the keeper and wrap the game up.

Harvey Knibbs: 6

The best of Reading’s starting midfielders today and just looks so much better in the midfield than the front line, helping to jump and press from deep. Didn’t win the ball quite as often as he can, but still got involved physically far far more than anybody else in the Reading midfield.

Started on the right side of midfield to allow Savage to start on the left. Formed a decent connection with Chem Campbell on the right, helping the winger to come into the game more.

Wasn’t quite as useful on the ball, but did move well to get himself into the wide space and attempt crosses a few times.

Chem Campbell: 5

Regained his starting role tonight, but couldn’t really produce enough to make a huge difference, guilty of several poor touches early in the game. Often he was trying to make a perfect touch when a simple push forwards beyond the defender would have been the right move.

Did come into it more as the half went on and made some good passes to keep moves going, but just lost the ball a few too many times and was understandably hooked with half an hour to go.

Jayden Wareham: 7

While Wareham starting today produced some murmurs both online and in the away end, he took fewer than 60 seconds to silence the doubters.

Slotted home low and hard into the side netting to get Reading off to the perfect start, and hopefully breathe a world of confidence into himself.

Suffers a little when looking to compete aerially due to his height but made up for it today by winning a bevy of ground duels through good movement and interacting well with Kelvin.

Taken off late when Reading needed experience up front, but was honestly probably better than Smith who replaced him.

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan: 6

Was often sent a ball over the top when he was 1 on 1 with a defender today, and earned Reading the ball or a throw in a few times. The ball tended to go right rather than his way, but he did enough in the first half to hold the attention of the Exeter defence, and lost the ball fewer than half the number of times Campbell did on the other side.

Earned Reading a nice free kick deep in Exeter’s half, and could have been through on goal a few times if he wasn’t a little over-eager, being caught offside twice.

Subs

Sam Smith: 5

Came on as the CF, but spent a lot of time deep in his own half. Couldn’t get close to Exeter’s defenders in the press and looked as though he had picked up a knock in training, as his speed wasn’t there today. Couldn’t win the ball aerially, and gave away a few fouls.

Had a chance to put the game to bed late on, but insisted on shifting it to his right foot rather than just hammering home with his left, and lost the chance.

Adrian Akande: 5

The momentum of the game had been totally seized away from Reading by the time Akande came on with a half hour to go, but unfortunately Adrian couldn’ seize much of it back.

Lost the ball just as many times as he attempted passes today, and often was slow to get out and cover the huge amount of ground that Craig was being exposed in during the second half.

Ben Elliott: 5

Is really struggling to communicate effectively with Akande on the right side, and was often part of the issue in terms of how much space Exeter’s left wingers had to drive towards Craig. Might be fresh in my head as he had similar issues against Crawley.

Is probably tired after going through his first consistent period of starts in his career over the past six months, and should return to form later in the season. Touched the ball just 10 times.

Harlee Dean: 6

Had one moment that looked ugly today and other than that, he was much more useful than Garcia in terms of keeping the ball away from Reading’s goal. Amusingly delivered an excellent cross to the back post when still hanging out on the far side after a set piece.

Mamadi Camara: N/A

Good to see the seemingly perpetually injured Camara make another return today, and he played one lovely sequence, skipping around a defender and playing it forwards.

Was the recipient of the Mbengue ball forwards that could have iced the game at the end but couldn’t outpace the recovering defender to earn a 1v1 with the keeper. Still smartly paused and found Smith in space to shoot though, who spurned the chance by turning back inside.

Average: 5.8/10

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