Reading U21s 2-0 Middlesbrough U21s: Report And Analysis

05/05/2024 12:53

Tom Brailli analyses Saturday afternoon's under-21 win over Boro at the SCL.

I was surely not alone in vaguely feeling like Reading under-21s had been even less successful than the first team this season. Chastening defeats to Fulham, Southampton, and Derby County were the only times the team's fortunes came to my attention over the course of the year.

Fortunately, I was mistaken. While the under-18s have endured a torrid season, the under-21s have earned a respectable sixth-place finish. "Finish" is perhaps not the right word. The Royals have played 20 matches, winning 10, scoring and conceding 35 and finishing on 35 points. This is much fewer than the 50 matches expected if all 26 teams played everyone else twice.

The league is experimenting with a new structure, similar to one widely used in competitive tournaments such as chess and the one due to begin in new season's Champions League, but generally unfamiliar to English football fans. Everyone plays 20 other sides once, with the top-placing teams then entering a knock-out play-off bracket to determine the real league champion.

This was Reading's first play-off match, against Middlesbrough, who finished 11th after the 20 rounds of matches: five positions and four points behind Reading. Respectable opposition – the two sides drew 2-2 in the previous meeting.

Six of the Reading XI have appeared for the first team: Coniah Boyce-Clarke in goal has been around forever but is still only 21, centre-backs Michael Stickland and Louie Holzman have both endured serious injuries since their sole first-team appearances, Basil Tuma impressed in his brief cup debut last season, and Jayden Wareham made a series of sub appearances for Ruben Selles at the end of the season. But the most storied member of the side is left-back Matty Carson.

Carson is the sort of mercurial player who gains admirers at first sight. So it proved when he made his first-team bow. Ian Harte would be a flattering comparison for any left-back with a wand of a left foot, but a young Nicky Shorey seems a fair and fitting one. That said, deficiencies in his defensive game were quickly exposed, although in fairness to the young man, the Royals were playing a gung-ho style that didn't lend much protection to young full-backs.

This was a game defined by Carson, as much by the things he didn't do as those he did do. Early on, he floated a ball across goal that dropped perfectly for Wareham, who won a corner. Carson himself took it. When the ball was cleared, Holzman and Stickland raced back, while Tuma, the notional left-winger, covered Carson's position.

Reading made an interception, but Boro won the loose ball and came again, until Carson, ambling back from the right wing, made an unnecessary professional foul and earned an early caution. His indiscipline has got him in trouble with referees before, and with another 86 minutes still to play, there was a dreadful sense that a second booking would likely follow at some stage.

The play was bitty. Reading were more direct than Royals youth have typically been over the past 15 years, despite the diminutive stature of our forwards. They were set up in a low 4-4-1-1, with Tuma and Adrian Akande required to put in the defensive yards to help protect Carson and John Ryan, the latter a left-footer playing right-back to accommodate Carson.

Jeremiah Okine-Peters sat behind Wareham, but the duo were rarely able to threaten in their own right, instead holding the ball up until they could be joined by Tuma and Akande. By that point, of course, the Boro defence were usually equally well set. Tuma's footwork created a couple of chances, with Wareham snatching the ball off his toes only to shoot too close to the goalkeeper. Akande shot wide with his left foot in a good position. And Carson was unafraid to be audacious, with one shot going narrowly past the post and another less narrowly over.

Boro had chances of their own. Their #6 was a highly effective defensive midfielder, press-resistant and capable of pulling strings in the middle of the park. Their right-back was extremely adventurous, helping to pin back Tuma and keeping Carson in two minds; while he was a handful, there were occasions when he was wasteful in good positions.

Their striker took a shot well after the whistle had blown for offside, earning a booking for kicking the ball away. Generally though, both teams found it hard to test the goalkeepers, who were protected by brave centre-halves and could comfortable save the few shots that did make it to them.

The match only really came to life in the second half. The Boro full-backs were becoming progressively more cautious, and that allowed Akande and Tuma greater license to play high and pin back their opposite numbers. When Ryan took a throw near the halfway line, Akande span the Boro #11, who gave Akande a shove. The two wingers squared up and a 19-player melee erupted, with Carson wisely standing back with Boyce-Clarke. The result was a booking for both Akande and the #11.

This incident seemed to fire up Akande, and he made and scored a fine goal shortly after. He jinked inside, turning his marker inside out with a drop of the shoulder, and powered a thumping finish into the net.

The Boro manager prepared two changes, and brought them on as Carson prepared to take a throw deep into opposing territory. But Akande immediately struck again – the throw was flicked towards the area, and Akande raced through to delicately lob the onrushing goalkeeper.

Noel Hunt made two changes of his own, bringing on a third left-back, John Clarke, alongside his near-namesake Billy Clark, for Tuma and Okine-Peters. Clarke dropped in as an elbow-back, giving Carson greater license to advance from left-wing-back. Clark, meanwhile, was a busy, hassling forward, a useful fresh pair of legs to keep Boro on their toes.

The midfield duo of Charlie Wellens and Jacob Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis – professionally known as just Jacob Borgnis – had been quietly competent throughout, but it was in this period that they shone. Borgnis is the latest in a fine tradition of Reading #4s capable of taking the ball off the defenders and spreading play, most recently represented by Michael Craig.

Wellens is a more progressive player. There are a great many similarities between Wellens and Charlie Savage: their first name, their Manchester United training, their tough-tackling fathers who also came through United's academy, their free transfers to Reading in summer 2023, and, most relevantly, their style of play, as #8s who are easy on the ball and strike it well. Wellens played a couple of defence-splitting balls that led to Wareham being flagged offside.

Reading wound down the match expertly. Not so long ago, Sam Paul was a right-footed left-back overshadowed by Kelvin Abrefa on the opposite flank. He came on for Carson, with Ryan switching back to the left as Paul took his place on the right. Carson had avoided the threat of a second caution for practically the whole match, and showed his quality with both his left foot and his head, twice playing incisive headed passes when in advanced positions.

Surprisingly, the fourth official indicated 12 minutes of additional time, which might have made Carson's withdrawal premature. But Boro had no more threat, looking tired and frustrated. The right-back earned a booking for an aggressive and needless push on Ryan.

Minutes later, the striker, previously booked for kicking the ball away, earned his second caution for another brainless foul, and took a long time to slowly trudge off the pitch. Hunt took the opportunity to bring on trialist Billy Heaps for Akande, who left on the east side of the pitch and was given a standing ovation by the home fans in the West Stand once he made his way round. The whistle blew as he made it to the dugout.

Man of the match: Adrian Akande

An industrious first-half display turned into a match-winning one in the second, scoring two good goals. While Carson and Wellens both deserve plaudits for their performances, it is inarguable that Akande made the difference between the two sides with his incisive and emphatic finishing.