STOPPAGE TIME HEARTBREAK KEEPS ROYALS IN RELEGATION ZONE

By ANDY PRESTON apreston@wokingham.today

Preston 2-1 Reading

READING FC remain in the Championship relegation zone after Preston North End found a stoppage time winner through Brad Potts.

Brad Potts headed the hosts ahead in stoppage time after Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan netted his first Championship goal to get the Royals level in the 83rd minute.

Having gone eight games without a win, Paul Ince’s team are in the bottom three with five games to go.

The Royals are one point behind 21st Cardiff City and a point behind QPR and Huddersfield.

Paul Ince tinkered with his line-up after the Royals made it three successive draws after their stalemate with Birmingham City at home on Friday.

Yakou Meite missed out on the squad with injury, while Nesta Guinness-Walker, Scott Dann and Mamadou Loum freshened up the starting 11.

Starting the day in the bottom three, Reading were on a run of seven games without a win prior to their trip to Deepdale with a dreadful away record throughout the campaign having not won on the road since November.

It was very much backs to the wall for the visitors throughout the first-half.

Reading struggled to get a foothold in the game and lacked the impetus to keep hold of the

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ball, gifting possession back to their opponents far too often.

Preston had plenty of the ball and half the Royals camped deep in their own half for the majority of the opening 45 minutes.

The first opening came when

Brad Potts drifted away from his marker to make a surging run at the near post and headed wide from Andrew Hughes’ whipped cross.

The home team went close on numerous occasions firstly through Tom Cannon who almost converted a sweeping attack after they tried to capitalise on a Cesare Casadei slip only to evade Joe Lumley’s far post by a matter of inches.

A rare Reading attack forward was ignited after an excellent surging run from Guinness-Walker which ended with a wayward crossfield pass from captain Andy Yiadom as the Royals’ frustration in attack continued.

Preston were left wondering how they didn’t get in front when the Royals defence managed to scramble the ball off the line following a corner.

Reading got into the break unscathed, but needing to threaten more at the other end to have any chance of picking up a positive result.

Naby Sarr picked up a caution quickly after the restart for upending Troy Parrott.

Preston took a deserved lead in the 56th minute when the ball broke for Cannon in the box and he slotted it past Lumley to make it 1-0 and extended Reading’s wait for a clean sheet.

Reading almost came up with a quick response, but their celebrations were cut short when Scott Dann had the ball in the net after he had strayed offside.

Dann was next to go in the referee’s notebook after he scythed down Potts who was bearing down on the Royals’ box.

Potts unleashed a powerful hit after being teed up from the resulting free-kick which needed Lumley to keep focused to clasp the ball.

Cannon used his pace to break in behind Reading’s defence and would have out his team 2-0 up had it not been for the palm of Lumley who saved brilliantly to keep him out.

With 20 minutes to try and get back in the game, Ince made a triple change.

Andy Carroll, Tom Holmes and Loum were replaced by Tyrese Fornah, Femi Azeez and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.

With 82 minutes on the clock, Reading tested goalkeeper Freddie Woodman for the first time when a stinging shot from Jeff Hendrick was turned behind for a corner.

Just when all hope looked lost, Reading somehow clawed back a leveller when GuinnessWalker’s long throw looped in from Ehibhatiomhan’s header.

Lumley came up with a pivotal save in the 88th minute with a reflex stop to deny Potts with time running out.

But in stoppage time, Reading received a gut punch when Preston deservedly regained their lead when Potts headed in from close range.

Preston: Woodman, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, Whiteman, Potts, Onomah, Johnson, Fernandez, Parrott, Cannon Subs: Bauer, Brady, Ledson, Woodburn, Diaby, Cornell, Slater

Reading: Lumley, Yiadom, Holmes, Sarr, Dann, Guinness-Walker, Loum, Hendrick, Casadei, Carroll, Joao

Subs: Azeez, Fornah, Mbengue, Abrefa, BoyceClarke, Ehibhatiomhan, Craig

Goals: Cannon 56’, Ehibhatiomhan 83’, Potts 90+2’