Royals keep up their promotion push

Rafa Benitez’s Toon Army were seeking a third straight victory on their travels in a matter of seven days following wins at promotion-rivals Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion.

But Royals were in no mood to play second fiddle to the Championship’s title favourites.

In fact, Stam’s men proved more than a match for the visitors, were worthy of a point and could even have snatched all three at the death when Garath McCleary’s shot clipped the crossbar.

Newcastle came with tactics to hit the hosts on the break, with Royals enjoyed a whopping 70% possession on the night.

But neither side possessed a cutting edge in the final third, though Benitez’s side also hit the woodwork in the first half when Matt Ritchie struck the post.

Perhaps supporters making up Reading’s biggest gate of the season should not have been surprised by the stalemate.

On paper this was a battle between the team with the second best home record in the division (Reading) against the one with the best away record.

ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads And on the balance of play there was little to choose between the teams as Reading’s second 0-0 draw in four home matches saw them hold on to fifth in the table and maintain their seven-point cushion over seventh-placed Fulham, who grabbed an injury-time equaliser at home to fourth-placed Leeds.

Stam made four changes from the side that won 2-1 against Wolves on Saturday.

Jordon Mutch, Liam Kelly, Lewis Grabban and McCleary all came into the starting line-up, while Danny Williams, Adrian Popa, John Swift and Roy Beerens dropped to the bench.

Benitez, meanwhile, made three changes with Jesus Gamez, Yoan Gouffran and Ayoze Perez replacing Vurnon Anita, Christian Atsu and Mohamed Diame.

But The Toon Army were nearly stunned in the first minute when Reading wasted a gilt-edged chance, Grabban heading a foot wide of the far post from McCleary’s deflected cross.

In fact, Royals fans had plenty to purr about as they knocked the ball around with confidence.

But the Magpies began to show their authority and tested Ali Al-Habsi twice in a matter of minutes, with the Oman stopper getting down quickly to hold onto a Gouffran header and then showing sharp reflexes to punch away Jonjo Shelvey’s volley after a neat link-up with Daryl Murphy.

Yet this was not to be a procession as Stam’s men responded with one of their best spells of the game.

They began to string more passes together as Newcastle struggled to get their foot on the ball.

Admittedly, the Magpies were happy to sit off the Royals and let them knock it around in their own half, but every successful pass bred more and more belief.

Their determination to play it out for the back almost cost them in the 32nd minute when a poor touch from Mutch was quickly seized upon before Gouffran brought the best out of A-Habsi from 25 yards.

Royals failed to heed the warning and five minutes later they coughed up possession again, this time Liam Moore coming to the rescue with a superb block to deny Shelvey from just outside the box.

A strong punch from Al-Habsi was also needed to clear Ritchie’s threatening centre as the hosts pushed forward, then Reading got out of jail seven minutes before the break thanks to slice of luck.

With the hosts penned in, the ball feel to Ritchie 30 yards out and his thundering return smacked against Al-Habsi’s post and bounced across the six yards box before McShane somehow hacked it away under pressure from Murphy.

Stam made a change at the break and replaced Kelly with Williams in an effort to shore up midfield.

They burst out of the traps for the second half and went close twice within two minutes of the restart.

McCleary almost broke the deadlock when his angled drive deflected off Jamaal Lascelles and flew agonisingly wide of the far post with Karl Darlow beaten.

The from van den Berg’s flag-kick, Kermorgant’s volley flew through a crowd of players before Darlow desperately clawed it away.

It was much better from the Royals, but luck went against them with just 50 minutes gone when Stam was forced into second change, this time Moore limping off to be replaced by Jordan Obita leading to tweak in formation to three at the back, with van den Berg dropping in next to McShane and Blackett.

Yet there was no panicking from Stam’s men as they continued to hustle the increasingly frustrated Magpies.

The visitors did carve open a decent opening in the 70th minute when Murphy met Paul Dummett’s cross with a powerful header, but Al-Habsi was equal to it.

But Royals went even closer to breaking the deadlock a minute later, McCleary’s thunderous drive from miles out taking a nick off a defender before fizzing just wide of Darlow’s far post.

The tension cranked up in the closing stages as both sides seemed more determined to avoid defeat than snatch a late winner.

But it was Royals who almost pulled it off with the last kick of the game when McCleary skinned Dummett only for his shot from a tight angle to clip Darlow’s crossbar.

Even so, it was encouraging stuff from Stam’s men who travel to Preston this Saturday (3pm).