Birmingham 0-1 Reading Player Ratings: Impressive Williams

Swift celebrates late winner – bbc.co.uk

John Swift’s late goal gave smooth-passing Reading a 1-0 win at St Andrew’s – but which players stood out?

Birmingham City

Tomasz Kuzczak – only faced two shots on target. Tipped McCleary’s shot wide four minutes in and could not have done too much for the goal. 5

Josh Dacres-Cogley – plenty of energy and attacked a lot down the right in the last 10 minutes. Struggled defensively in the second half as Reading targeted the left. 4
Ryan Shotton – sluggish in the first half and was taken off at the interval, even though Blues hadn’t conceded. 5
Paul Robinson – one strong first half challenge that lifted the fans. Solid performance. 7
Jonathan Grounds – struggled to handle McCleary’s powerful first half runs and did not contribute enough in attack to compensate. 3

David Davis – reasonably well-positioned out of possession, but offered little in an attacking sense. 4
Stephen Gleeson – anonymous, not for the first time this season. Offered neither physicality nor technical ability. 2
Craig Gardner – overrun in the first half hour. Key to Birmingham’s decent 20 minute spell at the start of the second half and then stung Al-Habsi’s palms with a long-range drive. 5
Kerim Frei – his pace and skill earnt him the official man-of-the-match award. End product left a little to be desired but set up Jutkiewicz’s chance early in the second half. 6

Che Adams – had a poor first half. Livelier after the break but always lacking some extra technical finesse. 4
Lukasz Jutkiewicz – his hold up play was good, but he had little support against three centre-backs. Slipped at the crucial moment for a second half chance. 5

Michael Morrison (on 45) – looked solid at first, but struggled to handle the power of his Meite late on. 4
Greg Stewart (on 83)

Reading

Ali Al-Habsi – not stretched to his full capacity as a shot stopper, but impressive distribution and shrewd game management late on. 7

Chris Gunter – arguably suits him playing on the right of a back three more than of a back four. Less onus on him to attack the flank at pace. 7
Liam Moore – scrapped well with Jutkiewicz and was a leader on the pitch. 8
Tyler Blackett – a touch shaky in the early exchanges but grew in confidence and played some good passes into opposition territory. 7

Daniel Williams – his inward headers from high balls from the back began a lot of Reading’s first half attacks. Showed a tremendous engine. 8
George Evans – more disciplined than Kelly and Swift, but his shrewd positioning played its part in the clean sheet. 6
Liam Kelly – at the centre of all of Reading’s good first half moves on the right and played in Obita to assist the second half winner. A vibrant performance. 8
John Swift – in the second half, he played a similar role to the one Kelly had done in the first, but more on the left side of the pitch. Linked play well and deserved his goal. 7
Jordan Obita – lively throughout, but found more space to move forward in the second half. 6

Garath McCleary – caused problems for Grounds with his pace in the first half hour, but faded prior to his second half substitution. 6
Roy Beerens – on the left he was more involved in the second half. Some nice twists and turns but a limited end product. 6

Yakou Meite (on 71) – gave Reading the focal point they had been missing previously. 7
Joseph Mendes (on 84)