Reading vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Select Car Leasing StadiumAttendance14,186.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Reading and QPR at the Select Car Leasing Stadium as Tyler Roberts' second-half brace cancelled out Jeff Hendrick's first-half double.
Saturday 14 January 2023 18:36, UK
Out-of-form QPR battled back from a two-goal deficit to earn a deserved 2-2 draw at Sky Bet Championship play-off rivals Reading.
Home midfielder Jeff Hendrick, on loan from Newcastle, gave Reading a 2-0 half-time lead with contrasting efforts - the first struck from 30 yards and the second from almost on the goal line.
QPR were much improved after the interval, however, with Tyler Roberts reducing the deficit in the 66th minute and then grabbing the equaliser with 10 minutes remaining.
Rangers had won only one of their previous 10 second-tier outings and had lost 2-1 at League One Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup third round last Saturday.
Reading, three points from the play-offs, had secured four wins in seven matches in all competitions.
They defeated Watford 2-0 in the FA Cup last weekend and will meet Manchester United at Old Trafford in the fourth round later this month.
In the scrappy early exchanges, neither side managed to create any clear openings.
Reading built patiently from midfield, causing a couple of hasty clearances from the visitors' defence, while QPR preferred the more direct route going forward.
Rangers did have an opportunity from a free-kick on the right but centre-back Jimmy Dunne nodded well wide from Kenneth Paal's precise set-piece.
Reading responded quickly, with Hendrick giving them the lead in the 28th minute.
Shane Long's attempted cross was deflected into the path of Hendrick and, from 30 yards out, the Newcastle loanee drilled home a low shot past goalkeeper Seny Dieng.
Rangers almost levelled when Lyndon Dykes touched narrowly wide from an Ilias Chair pullback from the byline.
But Reading increased their lead three minutes before the break.
Skipper Andy Yiadom saw his volley superbly saved by Dieng but the ball looped into the air and allowed Hendrick, a Rangers loanee last season, to tap home from close range.
As Reading sat deep to seemingly protect their advantage, QPR began strongly at the start of the second half.
Ethan Laird saw an effort deflected over and a Chair free-kick whistled just wide, with home keeper Joe Lumley struggling to reach it.
Dykes then also tried his luck from distance but Lumley did not have to move as it finished well wide of the target.
However, Rangers finally found their radar after the hour following a period of intense pressure and good work by substitute Jamal Lowe.
Roberts wriggled into the home area, turned cleverly and beat Lumley with a well-struck low cross-shot.
QPR maintained their momentum towards the end, with Dykes forcing a fine save from Lumley.
And they gained their just reward when Chair's cross caused mayhem in the home area and, after a chaotic scramble, Roberts pounced from close range.
Reading's Paul Ince:
"We were just passive in the second half. And I wasn't too pleased with the first half, to be honest. As much as you go in 2-0 up, we didn't really kick the ball like I wanted them to and we made some silly mistakes. Then again, we had created enough chances to have put the game to bed. OK, Rangers had a couple of skirmishes in the first half, but overall you're coming in at half-time and I'm quite content.
"There was a lot of things that we could improve on in the second half but, every time we're winning games, we seem to have this tendency to drop deep. We keep trying to defend it [the lead] and all you do is just invite pressure on yourselves. And you can't keep getting away with it. In the second half, especially for the goals, there was a lack of positioning, a lack of communication and people were not winning headers. It was poor."
QPR's Neil Critchley:
"Yes, it was a good fightback. A point was the least that we deserved from the game. To be honest, we didn't do a great deal wrong in the first half. We had good control of the game and several promising situations up in the final third, but too many times we failed with our decision making. But then their lad [Hendrick] produced a moment of real quality for the first goal with a strike from outside the box. At that point in time we hadn't really done a lot wrong. But then they break and score again.
"From 2-0 down at half-time we had to show real fight and courage and believe in ourselves as a group. And that's what we did. I said that if we get the third goal, which we were capable of doing, then the momentum would change and it would be with us. I was really proud of them in the second half. We played with real purpose, we ran forward hard and scored two good goals. If any team deserved to pick up all three points, I think that was us."
