West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Reading: Baggies beat Royals with Callum Robinson strike

Callum Robinson's second-half strike was his fourth est Bromwich Albion goal of the season, but his first since August — Callum Robinson's second-half strike was his fourth Albion goal of the season, but his first since August

West Bromwich Albion made it back-to-back Championship wins as they scored the only goal of the game to beat Reading.

The Covid-hit Baggies only played after being refused permission by the English Football League to postpone the fixture.

But Callum Robinson got the winner on 62 minutes to cement the Baggies' place in third - and extend the Championship's only unbeaten home record to 11 matches.

Following Karlan Grant's run, Robinson fired deftly in off the underside of the bar. It was his first goal for Albion since August, when he netted in three successive games, although he has scored six times for the Republic of Ireland (including a hat-trick in a friendly against Qatar) since then.

Albion - missing defenders Matt Clarke Semi Ajayi and Conor Townsend through coronavirus and midfielder Grady Diangana through illness - wasted chances.

Robinson was the main culprit, although Reading's former England striker Andy Carroll twice rescued his side before the break with headed clearances off the line.

But Robinson got the goal that mattered to move Val Ismael's side within three points of second-placed Bournemouth, who lost 2-0 at home to Blackburn.

Albion had opportunities to make the scoreline more resemble their overall authority over a Reading side missing Andy Yiadom, John Swift and Danny Drinkwater due to injury.

Visiting skipper Liam Moore nearly registered an own goal with a sliced clearance, Robinson headed just wide and Alex Mowatt fired straight at keeper Luke Southwood, who also kept out Robinson's curler at full stretch.

But a second straight victory, on the back of a winless four-game run, looks to have got the Baggies back on course before next Friday's trip to Oakwell when boss Ismael will face his struggling former side Barnsley for the first time since leaving for The Hawthorns in the summer.

Reading remain 21st, just two points clear of danger, having won just two of their past 20 games going into next Saturday's home match against Luton Town.

West Bromwich Albion boss Val Ismael told BBC Radio WM:

"A real team spirit performance. Togetherness. A desire to overcome the current situation.

"We had a very difficult week. Every day there were players testing positive one minute and negative the next. Staff members too. We tried to postpone the game but the EFL forced us to play.

"As soon as we heard that the EFL said we have to play, we were focused. We controlled the game throughout. And we should have scored more goals. 13 shots on target."

Reading boss Veljko Paunovic:

"Overall, it wasn't a bad performance but it was definitely not the result we were looking for. We missed important players.

"We had a lack of power. There were some good individual performances but we need to put all the pieces together

"We have no time or room for negativity. We are where we are and we know why we are where we are. We also know what we have to do."

Line-ups
Match Stats
Live Text

Line-ups

West Brom

Formation 3-4-2-1

1Johnstone
8Livermore
5Bartley
20Reach
2Furlong
14Molumby
27Mowatt
29Gardner-Hickman
7RobinsonBooked at 63minsSubstituted forFellowsat 86'minutes
18Grant
17Hugill

Substitutes

25Button
28Tulloch
33Taylor
34Ingram
35Ashworth
41Fellows
43Cleary

Reading

Formation 3-4-2-1

22Southwood
3Holmes
6MooreSubstituted forPuscasat 75'minutes
24Dann
48Ashcroft
16TetekBooked at 66minsSubstituted forHoilettat 68'minutes
28Laurent
21Baba
7HalilovicBooked at 34mins
19Dele-Bashiru
9Carroll

Substitutes

20Araruna Hoffmann
23Hoilett
32Camara
33Cabral Barbosa
36Osorio
41Bristow
47Puscas

Referee:: David Webb
Attendance:: 21,306

Match Stats

Home TeamWest BromAway TeamReading

Possession: Home57%; Away43%

Shots: Home25; Away4

Shots on Target: Home11; Away0

Corners: Home6; Away1

Fouls: Home9; Away8

Live Text

Post update
Match ends, West Bromwich Albion 1, Reading 0.
90'+6'
Full Time
Second Half ends, West Bromwich Albion 1, Reading 0.

90'+1'
Post update
Attempt saved. Karlan Grant (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Taylor Gardner-Hickman.
90'
Post update
Jordan Hugill (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
90'
Post update
Foul by Thomas Holmes (Reading).
90'
Post update
Attempt missed. Tom Dele-Bashiru (Reading) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by George Puscas.
86'
Substitution
Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. Tom Fellows replaces Callum Robinson.
86'
Post update
Taylor Gardner-Hickman (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick on the left wing.
86'
Post update
Foul by Alen Halilovic (Reading).
84'
Post update
Foul by Kyle Bartley (West Bromwich Albion).
84'
Post update
George Puscas (Reading) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
82'
Post update
Attempt missed. Jordan Hugill (West Bromwich Albion) header from very close range misses to the right. Assisted by Callum Robinson with a cross following a corner.
82'
Post update
Attempt missed. Kyle Bartley (West Bromwich Albion) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Taylor Gardner-Hickman with a cross following a corner.
81'
Post update
Corner, West Bromwich Albion. Conceded by Luke Southwood.
81'
Post update
Attempt saved. Callum Robinson (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Karlan Grant.
79'
Post update
Attempt missed. Josh Laurent (Reading) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by David Junior Hoilett.
77'
Post update
Attempt saved. Taylor Gardner-Hickman (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Karlan Grant.
76'
Post update
Corner, Reading. Conceded by Kyle Bartley.
76'
Post update
Foul by Jake Livermore (West Bromwich Albion).
76'
Post update
Tom Dele-Bashiru (Reading) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

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As It Stood

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Fulham	22	13	6	3	51	18	33	45
2	Bournemouth	22	12	7	3	37	19	18	43

3	West Brom	22	11	7	4	30	17	13	40
4	Blackburn	22	11	6	5	37	27	10	39
5	QPR	21	10	5	6	33	27	6	35
6	Stoke	22	10	5	7	26	21	5	35

7	Coventry	22	9	7	6	29	26	3	34
8	Nottm Forest	22	8	7	7	30	24	6	31
9	Middlesbrough	22	8	6	8	24	23	1	30
10	Huddersfield	22	8	6	8	25	25	0	30
11	Millwall	22	7	9	6	24	24	0	30
12	Luton	22	7	8	7	31	27	4	29
13	Sheff Utd	21	8	5	8	28	28	0	29
14	Preston	22	7	7	8	24	28	-4	28
15	Birmingham	22	7	6	9	22	26	-4	27
16	Swansea	22	7	6	9	26	31	-5	27
17	Blackpool	22	7	6	9	20	26	-6	27
18	Bristol City	22	7	6	9	24	32	-8	27
19	Hull	22	6	5	11	19	26	-7	23
20	Cardiff	22	6	4	12	25	39	-14	22
21	Reading	22	8	3	11	27	34	-7	21

22	Peterborough	22	5	4	13	19	41	-22	19
23	Barnsley	22	2	7	13	15	34	-19	13
24	Derby	22	5	10	7	18	21	-3	4

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Comments

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33 comments

Comment posted by Leviathan, at 18:26 11 Dec 2021
One of the most dominant 1-0's you'll see. Only criticism is wasteful finishing again which isn't helping GD and would have been nice for Cleary to come on before he is the next one to be poached from the academy. Still, it's back to back wins with fixtures ahead against sides in the bottom half of the table.
Comment posted by Winston Smith, at 18:22 11 Dec 2021
We were lucky to get nil by the sound of it... With 14(?) out injured now, surely we're at the point where we can have games postponed?

Next week's "150th anniversary" game against Luton is only going to go one way, isn't it?
Comment posted by Kevin Robinson, at 08:41 12 Dec 2021
The Baggies deserved the win, Reading were relying on trying to catch them on the break, without success. Comments about Reading only having 2 wins from 20 games are incorrect BBC, get your simple facts straight.
Comment posted by be kind, at 09:22 12 Dec 2021
Disappointing, but as well as the 3 mentioned, Reading are missing Morrison, McIntyre, Rinomhota, Meite, Joao, Ejaria, Clarke, Araruna, Azeez….
Reply posted by Stwickehim, at 12:27 12 Dec 2021
Stwickehim replied:
All teams experience injuries, Still plenty of experience and can still seem able to field a full compliment of subs.
Should have bought wiser whilst you was overspending.
Comment posted by 3robert3, at 23:44 11 Dec 2021
On the run of play WBA should have had a hat full of goals
Comment posted by baggie 1, at 22:24 11 Dec 2021
can t be unhappy with that,positive and on the front foot from the start,on another day and with a bit of luck it could have been 4:0.with a makeshift defence,reading hardly laid a glove on us.with better finnishing someones going to get a right hammering soon.would have been great to have seen more youngsters introduced,but at 1:0 can understand why not. Ishmael is getting it right.
Comment posted by geow93, at 17:56 11 Dec 2021
Peterborough v Reading on Boxing Day looks huge
Reply posted by Corby, at 21:41 11 Dec 2021
Corby replied:
I'm sure Boro can't wait
Comment posted by SirDaz, at 18:19 11 Dec 2021
I've been critical of Six, but today we actually looked like a cohesive team. Enforced by the COVID cases, but oddly we looked better than we have in ages. TGH looks class so let's hope we can tie him down on a good deal. Yes, I realise that Reading have massive injuries, but boy were they bad. We need to be more ruthless, Robinson should have had 4.
Comment posted by stephen peacock, at 18:08 11 Dec 2021
11109 at west brom. Is that correct
Reply posted by Leviathan, at 18:27 11 Dec 2021
Leviathan replied:
Think it's supposed to be 21,109.
Comment posted by Maximus Chatfield, at 07:02 12 Dec 2021
m
Comment posted by Monkeys, at 00:11 12 Dec 2021
Another battling win but it could of been so much easier if the strikers had a bit of confidence and we could put in a decent cross.
Comment posted by mark harris, at 18:16 11 Dec 2021
Albion strugle again one nil they need to score more goals with the players they have got
Reply posted by SirDaz, at 18:23 11 Dec 2021
SirDaz replied:
We do need to score more from our chances this is true. Today though, we looked like a team that knew what it was trying to do. For months we e been a boring mess, today we looked dangerous and like we can play.
Comment posted by Born Again Idiot, at 23:58 11 Dec 2021
Get in
Comment posted by Partisan Baggie, at 21:26 11 Dec 2021
Come. On. You. Baggies.

🔵🔵🔵⚪️⚪️⚪️⚽️⚽️⚽️🔵🔵🔵⚪️⚪️⚪️
Comment posted by Stwickehim, at 12:33 12 Dec 2021
Went shopping in Reading the other day and a guy said did i want to buy a Reading season ticket.
I said to him i thought Readings season was over.
Comment posted by ovalball, at 18:14 11 Dec 2021
Reading

Who are Reading?
Reply posted by RoyalCruiser, at 19:04 11 Dec 2021
RoyalCruiser replied:
Bigger than West Brom, that's for sure