Royal round-up: Drawing Bees, signing Masterson and closing roads

Sans Dobby mask, Paddy Lane was instrumental in putting the Royals 2-0 to the good, as his low cross in the ninth minute was turned in by Jacob Brown – his first in Reading colours – before Lane won the race to a long ball forward and dinked it over the goalkeeper midway through the first half.

Completing the scoring late on and becoming the third player to get off the mark for the campaign was Randell Williams, tapping home at the back post after more brilliant build-up play from Kyreece Lisbie, as Reading recorded their first win inside 90 minutes of the season at the fifth attempt.

While drawing Stevenage was almost universally accepted as the least interesting fixture possible, Reading’s third round opponents provoked a mixed reaction from fans online. In September, the Berkshire boys will welcome Brentford for the first time since the Bees were promoted to the top flight. Those in favour of the draw pointed to Premier League opposition and a decent midweek attendance, those against claimed a hammering is incoming and not against the right Premier League opposition.

With the trip to Oxford having already been moved to 8th September, the tie is likely to be played the week commencing 14th September.

Making his debut in the win over Stevenage and marking it with a clean sheet was Conor Masterson, who was announced as Reading’s sixth senior summer signing just two-and-a-half hours before being named in the starting line-up, joining the club on a short-term contract until January.

A very low-key signing by modern standards, Reading appeared to have read the room with this one. Masterson has been with the squad for a while already, playing in the pre-season friendly with Charlton Athletic as a triallist and training with the team since.

Yet as recently as last week, the word was that the club would not be signing the free agent. The change of heart is rumoured to be prompted by the club missing out on supposed target, Dan Scarr of Wrexham, and the short-term thinking suggests Masterson is just a placeholder until Reading can go in again for Scarr or another option in the winter window.

It’s hardly a vote of confidence in the former Gillingham man, but thankfully, he proved on debut to not only be a true professional, but be ready for action – putting up some impressive numbers as he partnered Benn Ward and playing the full 90 minutes in the clean-sheet victory.

It has been a difficult summer at the negotiating table, as Reading have missed out on transfer targets and still have business to do ahead of the window closing. Plus, work in and around the stadium has caused issues, with the newly-laid pitch deemed unplayable for the Charlton friendly.

Now, the two have combined – with Reading unable to negotiate a positive outcome for work being done close to the stadium. The club held a meeting with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and National Highways regarding the planned closure of the M4 motorway between junctions 10 and 11 over the weekend of 19th/20th September, coinciding with the home game against Notts County on the Saturday.

The fixture will go ahead as planned, but the club have been told the work must also go ahead, causing travel disruption for fans travelling to and from the match.

The lack of consideration for the club and its supporters is frustrating, but let us hope this is the last of the summer’s off-field issues.