Reading 2-1 Rotherham United: Royals come from behind to grab late win
- Published
- comments
Andy Carroll headed Reading level against Rotherham early in the second half
Andy Carroll's aerial prowess earned Reading their first Championship win of 2023 and ended Rotherham's four-match unbeaten run.
The big former Liverpool and Newcastle front man equalised with a towering header after Millers defender Lee Peltier had scored his first goal for over nine years to give the visitors the lead.
Carroll was the hero again in the last minute of normal time as he once more rose to power a Femi Azeez cross goalwards, only this time Tyrese Fornah used his head to divert the effort past Viktor Johansson.
Rotherham seemed to be heading for a rare away win after 36-year-old Peltier had himself scored with a terrific header from Conor Coventry's free-kick.
The Millers, who have now only conceded two goals in five games, had the better of the chances, with Peltier, whose last goal was for Leeds at Blackpool on Boxing Day 2013, also hitting the bar just six minutes before he headed home.
Reading had not won in the league since December, drawing three and losing three, but they brought that slump to an end courtesy of Fornah's late winner.
This was a meeting of two sides who are looking over their shoulders at the desperate scrap to avoid the relegation places, and Rotherham have developed into a mean outfit.
The Millers followed a 4-0 win over play-off hopefuls Blackburn with draws against two more top sides in Watford and Sheffield United, and a stalemate against bottom club Blackpool at the weekend.
They showed all of that doggedness in restricting Rotherham and were deservedly ahead at half-time, Reading's misery compounded by the fact they lost Baba Rahman through injury as he committed the foul which led to Peltier's goal.
They were fairly comfortable for 50 minutes, but when Azeez floated a free-kick deep into the area from near the left corner flag, Carroll rose above everyone and generated enough force in the header for it to flash past Johansson.
Rotherham almost hit back straight away as Cohen Bramall's cross from the left was headed wide by Hakeem Odoffin, but Carroll still had one ace left to play, this time from an Azeez corner, and Fornah applied the telling touch to claim the win which lifted the Royals up to 13th.
Reading boss Paul Ince:
"I knew that once we got the first goal our crowd would come alive and we would all start to believe again.
"It was a wonderful header from Andy. You could see it coming (from a Femi Azeez free-kick) and you just knew that he was going to win it. It was fantastic. Andy just frightens the life out of people.
"I'm not sure whether we deserved to win. I thought we started quite well in the first half but then, for some reason, we sort of came off it.
"We played into Rotherham's hands and played their game rather than playing ours. It was scrappy, it was just one of those games. At times we looked tired, we looked jaded and we couldn't get to the ball.
"All the things that you don't want as a manager were happening. And then we're suddenly 1-0 down, when no one really deserved to be winning the game.
"We needed to get more up the park in the second half and that's what we did. It put the pressure on Rotherham and I knew that they would get tired."
Rotherham boss Matt Taylor told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"Disappointed is the wrong word. I can't hide my frustration at that, I really can't. Performance levels from box to box, I thought we were the better team, created the better chances and (we conceded) two set-piece goals, both preventable before the set-piece action.
"Then we didn't understand the instruction on the obvious threat, with no disrespect to Reading, which was their route to goal. We were the better team and I am standing here with no points.
"It's the quietest (goalkeeper) Viktor (Johansson) has been all season.
"That's why we're in the position we are because those moments add up and a combination of those moments cost us tonight.
"Could we have gone further ahead? Possibly. But that first half performance was the best I have seen us for a long time."