A Tyrese Fornah thunderbolt was enough to give Reading a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win over Middlesbrough to win a second successive match.

Sam Hutchinson and Dean Bouzanis were the only changes for Paul Ince, with both enforced due to injury and Joe Lumley being unable to play against his parent club.

A slow start from both teams, Reading were very comfortable allowing the visitors possession and looked set to hit Boro on the counter attack. Despite dominating most of the play, it was the away side who conceded the first chance of the match as Junior Hoilett won the ball high up on the pitch and fired a shot on goal, forcing Zack Steffen into the game’s first save.

Creating the better openings throughout the half, it was unsurprising to see Ince’s men open the scoring midway through the period. A cross was cleared but only as far as the edge of the box, where Fornah was waiting to thunder home a strike, leaving Steffen motionless watching the ball hit the back of the net to send most in the SCL into raptures. Rather than kick Chris Wilder’s men into action, it did quite the opposite and the Royals looked more likely to add to their lead.

Counterattacking from a Middlesbrough corner, Tom Holmes drove forward into space and played a perfect switch for wing-back Hoilett to collect and play a ball toward the box. Nobody had kept up with the Canadian, so the chance came to nothing, but the break play was clear to see. Putting Bouzanis under some pressure at the end of the half with a succession of corners, the defence held strong, and the hosts took a slim lead into the break.

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As expected, the visitors came out with a point to prove in the second period and thoroughly dominated the hosts. Shane Long should have made it 2-0 within three minutes of the restart as a cross was pulled back toward the Irish man in the box, who scuffed his shot and saw it go wide.

Jeff Hendrick had a glimmer of a chance too when Tom Ince threaded through a ball into the box, only for it to have too much on it and safely roll to the keeper. From the hour mark onwards it was all Boro, with substitutes Matt Crooks and Duncan Watmore both having golden opportunities to level the score. The ball fell to Watmore just inside the box after ricocheting off a Royals defender, only for the former Sunderland midfielder to lean back and sent it high into the fans behind the goal.

Midfielder Crooks was found from a deep cross, connecting but powering wide of Bouzanis’ upright. Huffing and puffing, the visitors tried everything to blow the door down but it stood firm to secure a second successive win and clean sheet, just a week on from a 4-0 thumping at Rotherham United.