A contest between a team that is hard to beat, and a team struggling to score goals, was always likely to produce a draw, and that was exactly the outcome of a match dominated by Reading. Undefeated in their previous seven games United concentrated on stifling Reading with a pressing game and competing fiercely for long balls. Their game plan worked perfectly, taking a lead with slick break after twenty minutes through Benson. Reading have not been scoring freely all season and from that point it was always going to a tough assignment. Savage finally delivered the goal which produced the deserved equaliser ten minutes from the end, and it was goal worthy of earning a valuable point. An equaliser should have arrived much earlier with two good chances falling to Ehiobhatiomhan.

Wing pinged a typically accurate long ball over the United defence and Ehiobhatiomhan's first touch took him wide, but clear of United 'keeper Dawson. With an open goal at his mercy, the Reading striker kept his composure and rolled the ball carefully, and agonisingly, a fraction wide of the far post. In contrast he was later presented with a golden opportunity from close range, but on this occasion, he was far from composed and volleyed the ball high into the crowd behind the goal.

Also, as the highlights revealed, Reading were denied as obvious a penalty as you are ever likely to see when Douglas undoubtedly controlled the ball with his right hand before clearing the ball, but the referee gave the defender the benefit of the doubt. The Reading had not made the most of their dominant first half possession, struggling to find a way through a well drilled defence and the opening fifteen minutes of the second half were not much better. On the hour Liam Riachardson began to make changes, bringing on O'Mahony and Garcia and pushing Ehiobhatiomhan out wide on the left, where in my opinion, he has far more impact. He has pace, but not quite good enough touch to play as effectively in a central role. The changes brought a little more energy and although Garcia only had a few touches, the quality of his touch, movement, and short passing was clearly evident.

With referee Young allowing United to waste time on goal kicks and throw-ins and indulging in lengthy conversations with culprits about their misdemeanours, time was running out for Reading as United stuck to their game plan. With time running out, Savage forced a save from Dawson with a strike of at least forty yards, before hitting an even better effort from just outside the box. A loose ball sat up nicely for him and his right-footed strike arrowed in the top right corner of the net. Reading had their tails up and if anyone deserved to win it was Reading, but sadly the winning goal eluded them.

There were some solid individual performances today, but for me, Paudie O'Connor stood out for his all-round contribution. He defended well, caused problems in the opposition box and he was excellent in possession, combining well with Derrick Williams at the back to ensure solidity and calm at the back.

With a crowd of 15,279 at the Select Car Leasing today compared with the 11,216 to watch Bournemouth take on West Ham in the Premier League there is clearly still potential to draw good crowds at home.

John Wells