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Reading secured their second victory of the week after a mistake from Dennis Souza, the Brazilian defender, allowed Brynjar Gunnarsson to scuff home the winner to the relief of Steve Coppell, the Reading manager. The visiting team, who beat Coventry City comfortably 3-1 on Monday, had to work a lot harder for their victory against Barnsley on Saturday after Jimmy Kébé was sent off for tangling with Souza during the first half at Oakwell. Reading also let a number of chances go begging and Coppell admitted that his side had rode their luck at times, said: “We’ve been fortunate. We went down to ten men in our last away game [against Cardiff City] and we can’t keep doing that.” Simon Davey bemoaned his side’s inability to overcome shorthanded opponents, but also praised the away team for their resolute defending. “It’s very disappointing,” the Barnsley manager said. “Credit to Reading because we gave them a chance to score and they took it.
The Times

A gritty performance from a Reading team reduced to 10 men secured three precious points away to Barnsley keeping them in touch with Birmingham and Wolves at the top of the table. The kick off was delayed by 15 minutes after the Reading team coach broke down on the way to Oakwell and Reading suffered another setback when Jimmy Kebe was sent in the 34th minute of the match. Brynjar Gunnarsson scored the only goal of the match after 65 minutes and from then onwards Reading were firmly in the driving seat.
Nick Ive, Reading Evening Post