Reading 2-2 Cardiff Seven Things: Tomlin the super-sub

Tomlin fires in the leveller – bbc.co.uk

Substitute Lee Tomlin’s 90th minute equalizer completed an 11-minute comeback from promotion-chasing Cardiff City, who battled bravely back in Berkshire to secure a point in a 2-2 draw with mid-table Reading. Here’s seven things from the game.

Cardiff’s bright start

The Bluebirds had a solid grip on the middle third in the early stages with Joe Ralls winning a number of duels and the team threatening down the right. Junior Hoilett tried to feed Omar Bogle but the 24-year-old couldn’t get to the ball ahead of Vito Mannone, who also denied Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, after the winger got in behind Leandro Bacuna.

Reading’s adaptability

Problems arose for Cardiff when Bogle and Hoilett tried to press centre-backs Paul McShane and Liam Moore without coherent support, because Reading found space to play through the press. Their swift football allowed them to bring Yann Kermorgant into the game and isolate Bruno Manga one-on-one against Modou Barrow, who caused problems down the left. The latter’s combination play with overlapping left-back Chris Gunter lead to a corner that created the opening goal.

Set piece problems

Neil Warnock and his coaching staff have made some excellent decisions since arriving at Cardiff, but the decision to deploy striker Bogle as the first man defending a corner was not one of them. The striker misjudged the flight of the ball and with Callum Paterson in an awkward position behind Kermorgant, the ball skimmed the back of his head on it’s way in. Shortly before the interval, Cardiff had to defend another corner and when Loic Damour turned his back to Barrow’s firm rebounded strike, the ball found it’s way past Neil Etheridge via an awkward deflection.

Reading on the defensive

Reading didn’t play through the press as much in the second half as they had done in the first, partly because their visitors closed down in more unified fashion. With Aluko and others unable to kill the game off on the break, Cardiff still had an outside chance and the lively Mendez-Laing tried to instigate a response. They were initially let down by poor end product, with Hoilett coming closest with a header that bounced onto the ground and over the bar after Mannone lost his bearings. Reading also defended their penalty area well for 34 minutes, with Joey Van Den Berg dropping in between McShane and Moore to deny space for Bogle.

Tomlin’s impact

In the final 11 minutes, Bogle was taken off along with Paterson by assistant Kevin Blackwell after Neil Warnock had received his marching orders, much to the amusement of the home faithful. They were less amused though when Paterson’s replacement, Lee Tomlin, played a huge part in the away side’s late resurgence. He offered more confidence in possession, forcing a save from Mannone from outside the box within seconds of entering the fray. After left-back Joe Bennett hauled Cardiff back into the contest with a firm first time strike on 81 minutes, the Welsh outfit piled on the pressure with penalty-box pinball, before getting their equalizer in injury-time. Sol Bamba headed a corner onto the crossbar and Tomlin rammed home to delight the onlooking Warnock and send the away fans into raptures.

Cardiff have a Plan B

Prior to the last two games, the one question that could have been asked of Cardiff, who like to counter-attack with powerful players, was whether they had a secondary plan to break down teams when the initial strategy isn’t viable. Tomlin’s transformative effect on the 3-1 win over Norwich and the 2-2 draw tonight suggests that he could be the type of enigmatic, creative player they need to unlock deep rear-guards. If Warnock’s men are to make the top two, the 28-year-old could have a key part to play.

Mixed night for the Royals

This was a sour end to an encouraging evening for the Berkshire side, who played some excellent football in the first half, which suggested that Jaap Stam is willing to marginally compromise his possession principles to incorporate his quick wide men. In the second half, he perhaps compromised his principles too much and his side began looking for any forward pass, rather than the right one. There are positives to draw but the late capitulation means Reading are ten points off the play-off places – they now have some catching up to do.