Leeds United earn battling point at Reading

A first clean sheet will have pleased head coach Uwe Rosler as his team defended well and were well organised to deserve their point to add to the one picked up in the opener against Burnley.

Leeds boss Rosler made six changes from the midweek cup defeat at Doncaster bringing back the rested Marco Silvestri, Sol Bamba, Tom Adeyemi, Sam Byram and Chris Wood to the starting line-up and including young midfielder Kalvin Phillips in place of the suspended Lewis Cook.

It was Reading who had the game’s first effort after just two minutes as a Sol Bamba foul on Hal Robson-Kanu, for which he was booked, gave Oliver Norwood a chance to hit a free-kick, which was comfortably saved by Silvestri. Winger Stuart Dallas had an early chance for United with a shot that was saved by home keeper Jonathan Bond.

As the game settled in it became more of a midfield battle, however, with few chances in the opening half. Robson-Kanu did get a decent shot in from distance that was saved by Silvestri while at the other end Gaetano Berardi hit an effort wide from an angle and Dallas headed over following the best moves of the half involving Alex Mowatt and Byram.

After the break the pattern remained the same with no real sign of a goal although Adeyemi saw a shot from distance blocked by Norwood and Paul McShane sent a header over from a corner.

The best chance fell to striker Wood as he got in behind the Reading back four only to hit his shot into the side netting from a tight angle.

As the action hotted up, within a minute Reading then went down the other end and Orlando Sa hit the side netting with a low shot.

Rosler tried to win the game as he sent on an extra striker on in Mirco Antenucci for Mowatt. Another chance saw Luke Murphy on for Phillips, who worked hard in his first game of the season.

Leeds almost snatched a late winner when Wood took a long ball on his chest and turned well only to see his volley land on top of the net.

Reading then ended the game as they started it with a free-kick and it was the same result as Jordan Obita saw his effort saved by Silvestri to ensure the game ended 0-0.

Head coach Rosler was happy to bring a point back from his first travel in the league.

He said: “I take the point especially the fact that Reading had 48 hours more recovery time than us.

“First half we looked the better team.

“We didn’t allow them anything. Our goalkeeper only had two saves to make from free-kicks. It was hard after playing 120 minutes on Thursday night, but we dug deep. The mentality’s great.

“Overall a point was fair. Thank you to the fans for helping us getting the point over the line in the last 50 minutes.

“There is room for improvement, but the performance is good.”

Match facts

Reading 0

Leeds United 0

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Sky Bet Championship

Attendance: 21,581

Reading: Bond, Gunter, Obita, McShane, Ferdinand, Norwood (Hector 89), Quinn (Tshibola 77), Williams, Robson-Kanu, Blackman (Cox 82), Sa.

Leeds: Silvestri, Berardi, Cooper, Bamba, Taylor, Adeyemi, Phillips (Murphy 72), Mowatt (Antenucci 72), Byram, Dallas, Wood.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh.