The game to break Reading’s away curse

Reading have fared terribly on the road in recent years with wins and points being hard to come by. In November, the Royals broke their away league curse by beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-1, securing them their first away league win for over a year.

On Tuesday, Reading visited sixth-placed Stevenage, who have been formidable at home this season. Ruben Selles’ side battled hard and earned a massive three points thanks to a Vadaine Oliver own goal. The win took Reading out of the relegation zone for the time being, leapfrogging Port Vale who have two games in hand.

The significance of this win was much greater than just the three points, it was a sign that Reading had broken their away day voodoo. Away wins were hard enough to come by for the Royals, but midweek away wins were extremely rare.

To put the result into perspective, it was Reading’s first away midweek win since Bristol City in February 2021. Goals from now-departed Lucas Joao and Michael Morrison earned Reading a 2-0 victory at Ashton Gate. The game was played behind closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictions being in place, so no fans were present in the stadium.

This means that you would have to even further back to find the Berkshire side's last away midweek win with fans, 2,198 days in fact. All the way back to January 2018, when Reading, under Jaap Stam, won 3-1 against Burton Albion who had Darren Bent starting up top for them that day.

Additionally, the last time Reading won an away midweek game, with fans and against a team not beginning with ‘B’ was back in March 2014 with a 4-2 win over Leeds United.

On form this season, Stevenage were not the side Reading would have wanted to face to break their run. At the Lamex Stadium, Stevenage have not lost since September and have not conceded first in 305 days. Reading, who have leaked goals at times this season, also became the first team to keep a clean sheet and win at the Lamex this season.

The problem with Reading’s away form had also prevented them from doing the double over teams in the league. A 2-0 win at home and a 1-0 away win meant Reading secured this feat against Stevenage this season, the first time they had done this since against Birmingham City in the 2021/22 season.

 Despite, all that is going on off the pitch the efforts of those in and around what happens on the pitch cannot be faltered. Selles’ side have proved many wrong and have started picking up points against teams they would not have earlier on in the season. A resilient and really likeable group of players have all rallied together in an attempt to get Reading out of the mess they were in and are still in, in some respects.