REPORT: Reading 1-2 Barnsley
Written by Mark Stokes on Tuesday 25th August 2009

Drama at the end of the game seen Reading level the match on 90 minutes, but Daniel Bogdanovic's penalty in injury time sealed it for Barnsley.

Brendan Rodgers made nine changes to the starting eleven from Saturday's defeat at home to Sheffield United.

Simon welcomed back Hugo Colace to the side for the first time this season.

Barnsley should have taken the lead through Jon Macken when Bogdanovic raced onto a lose ball and presented Macken with a golden chance but he shot over the bar.

An 8th minute foul by Colace gave Reading a good chance and the cross tested the defence but Steele managed to grab hold of the ball.

A lose pass by Foster nearly let James Henry through on goal as Luke Steele race out of his area to clear just in time.

JCR nearly cost Barnsley with a lose pass that David Mooney ran onto, put a fabulous cross in with Steele diving to tip it away from Henry who was about to shoot.

Some neat passing football from Reading and poor passing from Barnsley were starting to cause real problems for Barnsley's defence.

Macken did get a shoot on target courtesy of a Hallfredsson pass and determination from the striker, but the ball went straight to the Reading keeper.

Bignall started to look dangerous and on 20 minutes his cross took Kozluk and Foster to make sure it went safe.

Hallfredsson started off a good move running with the ball, laying it off for Macken who crossed in to Odejayi and his header went over.

In the opening 22 minutes it was noticeable that Reading's passing was much slicker and accurate than Barnsley.

Odejayi had us thinking of a goal on the half hour as he took the ball down in the area, held off his marker, turned and shot only just over the bar.

David Mooney looked to be on the way to getting the opening goal with 35 minutes on the clock as he raced onto a pass. Luke Steele had to come to the corner of his area to slide in and clear the ball as no defenders were close.

A minute later and Steele was the savior as Barnsley continued to invite pressure on themselves with poor passing. Again Mooney was close to the opening goal as Barnsley looked all at sea.

Julian Kelly's excellent cross put Barnsley under pressure and Kozluk managed to clear, but at the expense of hurting himself and having to receive treatment.

With the scores level at half time it was still anybody's game.

Reading started the second half with a good chance from Harper. His shot was deflected by El Haimour as Steele was diving. Barnsley went down the other end, but no one wanted to shot and eventually the chance went begging and Reading steamed back down to Barnsley's area and El Haimour's reaction backpass to Steele went unpunished.

James Henry tested Luke Steele once more with 54 minutes gone. Between Steele and Luke Potter they were so far the best on the field for Barnsley.

El Haimour put in a good cross for Odejayi who in turn crossed into the box for Bogdanovic and he won a corner. The goal finally came after 57 minutes with JCR running into the box and passing to Bogdanovic who did extremely well to turn and shoot.

JCR was nearly the provider again on 64 minutes crossing the ball with Hallfredsson and Macken both sniffing a chance at goal, but Reading's keeper was quick off the mark to snatch the ball out of harms way.

With their tails up JCR took a shot himself on 68 minutes and the keeper managed to parry out for a corner. Colace's whipped in corner was headed by Bogdanovic and was mighty close to goal number two.

Some fancy footwork from Scott Davis around the area had the Barnsley defence in danger and his pass to Harper should have been rewarded with a better shot, but Barnsley survived.

A rare defensive lapse allowed Noel Hunt in to shoot, but his shot lacked power and direction. The makeshift back four had been having a good game keeping Reading at bay while the midfield were not on top form.

Foster did giveaway a freekick with just ten miutes remaining in a central area 30 yards out and David Mooney's strike was parried out by Steele.

Reading put Barnsley under pressure and Noel Hunt's excellent strike in the box brought out a superb reaction save from Steele.

David Mooney was next in line for an attempt at goal, this time Foster knocking it out for a corner.

David Mooney once again was foiled by another excellent save by Luke Steele, but seconds later Rob Kozluk trying to head the ball out of danger turned it into his own next with only seconds remaining of the 90 minutes.

Deep in injury time Macken put Odejayi through and he looked to have missed his chance but was brought down for a penalty. Bogdanovic stepped up to the spot. This to win the game in normal! In it went, as you would expect from Bogy.