Royals draw with Blues

There may be a late summer heatwave in the south, but there was little to get fired up about after a forgettable stalemate at Madejski Stadium.

Once again, Jaap Stam's Royals dominated possession against Gary Rowett's men but failed to turn it into a goal.

And that remains the chief frustration for some Reading fans who are not convinced that Stam's approach will work in the Championship.

Time will tell whether Stam is right, but at least Royals are moving in the right direction after extending their unbeaten league run to four matches with a second clean sheet in three games.

However, their lack of punch up front prevented them from securing a third Championship victory in a row.

In fairness, Stam's plans were thrown into disarray before kick-off due to a late injury problem.

The Dutchman intended to make two changes from Friday night's win against Ipswich with Jordan Obita replacing Tyler Blackett and Stephen Quinn coming in for George Evans.

But when Joey van den Berg, who impressed against Ipswich, picked up an injury in the warm-up, Evans kept his place, albeit out of position in a three-man central defence alongside Liam Moore and skipper Paul McShane.

Obita, meanwhile, had shown great form from the bench in recent weeks and, with Blackett conceding a soft penalty against Ipswich, he was given the nod.

Birmingham boss Rowett also made two changes from their win at Fulham at Saturday, and was forced into a third when goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak also suffered a knock in the warm-up, with Adam Legzdins taking his place.

Blues were first to threaten when David Cotterill's free-kick tested Ali Al Habsi at his near post.

Royals, however, struggled to make much an impression in the first quarter and, other than winning a couple of corners, they rarely threatened the Birmingham goal.

And when Beerens did have the slightest sniff from Kermorgant's 20th-minute pass, the Dutchman was quickly crowded out by three opposition players.

Reading kept possession well and did force Legzdins into an important save five minutes later, but the replacement keeper got down quickly to parry a Danny Williams piledriver.

Moments later a stinging effort from Roy Beerens was blocked in the Birmingham area, only for the visitors to issue a warning on the counter-attack when Che Adams cut inside but failed to beat Al Habsi.

Jonathan Spector also glanced a header narrowly wide from Cotterill's flag-kick on the half hour mark.

Back came Reading, but Kermorgant's header from McCleary's right-wing cross lacked power as half time approached.

Yet it was Blues who finished the first half on top as Al Habsi could only palm a Lukas Jutkiewicz drive out for a corner from which the same player narrowly headed over.

Nevertheless, Reading were playing some decent stuff and there was only encouragement from the fans as the players headed down the tunnel at the interval.

Yet the quality in the final third just wasn't there and when half a chance opened up for McCleary four minutes after the interval, he blazed his shot into the north stand.

Then Stam's men had to show their resilient side at the other end, with two excellent defensive headers from McShane clearing the danger from successive Cotterill corners.

But hearts were in mouths in the 56th minute when Al Habsi fumbled a long-range effort by Maikel Kieftenbeld into the path of Jutkiewicz.

However, the Oman stopper managed to kick the ball away in the nick of time, though Jutkiewicz had already been flagged for offside.

With chances coming thick and fast, McShane's free header from McCleary's corner was blocked by a defender when he should have done better.

And that's how it continued, with neither keeper really tested from there on in.

There were moments of pressure and genuine hope of a deadlock-breaker, but neither could deliver the decisive blow in front of goal.

Stam tried to liven things up by sending on John Swift, but even that failed to work against a gritty Blues defence.

Even when opportunities came about late in the game, neither side could capitalise as Diego Fabrini smashed one wide on the angle for the visitors before Swift sliced a shot miles over at the other end.

And that just about summed up a night on which Reading at least ended a run of four successive defeat to the Blues and kept a clean sheet in the process.

This Saturday (3pm) Royals travel to in-form Barnsley, who won 4-0 at Wolves on Tuesday night.