Stoke City 3-2 Reading: Substitute Sam Surridge hits winner as Potters beat Royals

Sam Surridge's late winner earned Stoke City their first opening-day victory in 11 years

Stoke City substitute Sam Surridge slammed in an 85th-minute winner as the Potters finally saw off Reading in their first home game watched by a crowd in 17 months.

In front of 19,068 fans, which created a cracking atmosphere, the Royals twice came from behind in a memorable game in which most of the scoring was done inside three sensational first-half minutes.

On 25 minutes, Nick Powell put Stoke ahead, but John Swift cashed in on awful defending by the Potters to level 60 seconds later before, just two minutes later, Jacob Brown's low shot was missed by Reading keeper Rafael Cabral.

Swift then delivered the right-wing corner from which Liam Moore's bullet header brought the Royals level for a second time on the hour.

But Stoke had the final word when Potters debutant Mario Vrancic dummied Tommy Smith's right-wing cross and Surridge, who only arrived for £2.5m from Bournemouth three days ago, fired a powerful right-foot shot into the roof of the net.

The Stoke fans had to go through the agony of seven minutes of injury time before victory was confirmed.

But the Potters' first opening-day win in 11 years was just the start to the season boss Michael O'Neill was looking for as he continues his rebuilding of the club following the financial fall-out from the Premier League in 2018.

Nick Powell's 25th-minute opener was the first Stoke goal witnessed live by fans since 7 March, 2020.

Smith had also been the supply line for Stoke's beautifully worked opener when his curled right-wing cross was met at the far post by Powell.

The former Crewe and Manchester United man clinically tucked away the first goal witnessed live by any Potters fans since Powell himself scored the final goal in the 5-1 win over Hull City on 7 March, 2020.

But the euphoria was too much. Almost straight from the restart, Stoke had countless opportunities to clear their lines before the ball finally broke unkindly off Danny Batth and Swift levelled from a tight angle.

Then Reading keeper Rafael inexplicably dived over the top of a low speculative shot from Brown.

Reading got back on level terms for a second time with a towering header from skipper Moore.

But Stoke were worth all three points and got them when Surridge, just 12 minutes after coming on, kept his cool from 10 yards out.

Stoke City boss Michael O'Neill:

"I've just been told that it's the first time we've won on the opening day of the season in 11 years, so I'm glad to get rid of that skeleton.

"But we deserved to win. We scored three well-worked goals, especially the first and third one, which was great for Sam on his debut. And I'm sure the fans have gone happy.

"It was a great day for the supporters, For both sets of supporters, in fact. And you could see the difference in the players. They had a real edge to them, having the crowd back."

Reading boss Veljko Paunovic:

"John Swift did very well, He had a great game. But I am disappointed. We dropped at least one point in this game and I am not happy about it.

"Sometimes you can be still happy after a defeat. If you do everything well you can accept defeat better, but this was not one of them. After going 2-2 we lost our momentum.

"We only had five players on the bench because of our injuries but that's the squad we have."