Reading U21s 3-1 Nottingham Forest U21s: Clarke De Triomphe

A Jayden Wareham penalty and John Clarke brace pushed the Royals through to the semi-finals of the Premier League 2 playoffs.

This Premier League 2 playoff lark is fun, isn’t it? After a comfortable 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in last Saturday’s round of 16, the Royals repeated the trick today. Another stress-free, enjoyable afternoon and victory with a margin of two goals.

If anything, this was even smoother sailing. While Reading took their time to see off Boro, doing the damage with a quick-fire second-half brace from Adrian Akande, Jayden Wareham’s opener from the penalty spot set nerves to rest after just nine minutes. From there, it was a fairly straightforward contest.

It was another player’s turn to be double goalscorer though, taking up the mantle from Akande. This time it was John Clarke, who had quite the eclectic afternoon. Although I instinctively think of him as a left-wing-back, from his brief appearances at first-team level under Paul Ince, he started as an out-and-out left-winger, and an attacking one at that.

He found the net with two close-range headers however, hardly the kind of finishes you’d generally associate with a winger. Oh and he even briefly dropped in as a centre-back at one point in the second half when Louie Holzman required treatment. Clarke sure is a versatile player. If the shoe fits, and all that.

Forest’s only response was a first-half goal at 2-0, as Detlef Esapa Osong was on song to convert from inside the area. In truth it was one of the few times the visitors genuinely threatened Coniah Boyce-Clarke, who may as well have assembled a hammock in his goal and had a kip. It was a lovely summer day for it, after all.

Reading’s reward is a semi-final game against... well, we don’t know yet. Annoyingly West Ham United play Sunderland on Monday (as Nottingham Forest did with Fulham last time out), meaning we have a couple of days before we know our opponents.

Noel Hunt made one change to the side that saw off Middlesbrough. Left-winger Basil Tuma (ineffective in the previous match) came out for Clarke in what was actually a straight swap, but given Clarke’s outing as a left-sided centre-half in a back five last Saturday, I wondered before kick-off if Hunt had opted for that setup again.

Reading (4-2-3-1): Coniah Boyce-Clarke; John Ryan, Michael Stickland, Louie Holzman, Matty Carson; Charlie Wellens, Jacob Borgnis; Adrian Akande, Jeremiah Okine-Peters, John Clarke; Jayden Wareham

Subs: Harvey Collins, Sam Paul, Jay Senga, Billy Clark, Basil Tuma

Reading started the game well, as they had done the weekend prior. From the early stages you could tell that this would be a contest in which the Royals would have more of the ball while visitors Forest looked to counter.

The breakthrough came just nine minutes in. Holzman was tripped in the area, and Wareham stepped up to coolly send the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Reading kept up the pressure and came close to doubling their advantage a few times in the next quarter of an hour. A Carson free-kick from deep, to the back post, was put back across and almost found the lurking Wareham at point-blank range; Okine-Peters was almost in on goal but let himself down with a heavy touch; and Clarke came desperately close when his header from an Akande right-wing cross struck the woodwork.

Clarke wasn’t to be denied again though. I’ve been a huge fan of Carson’s deliveries since I first saw him play - last season in the Berks & Bucks Cup against Marlow - and he came up with yet another one just over half an hour in. This time it was an inswinging corner that found the head of Clarke, who nodded home from close range to make it 2-0.

Forest improved a tad from that point, getting onto the scoresheet about five minutes after Clarke’s header. A low cross was pulled back in from the left byline to Osong, who fired past Boyce-Clarke. Jack Nadin later waltzed through a far too open Reading midfield, doing the hard work with ease, but let himself down with a finish that went straight at Boyce-Clarke.

Half-time, 2-1, and the second period was set up to be one of Reading needing to manage their lead intelligently. Forest would surely be no pushovers, with the confidence boost of halving the deficit, not to mention overcoming a strong Fulham side in the previous round.

The opening stages of the second 45 were actually pleasingly short on incident. Clarke briefly swapped the left wing for the left centre-back spot, while Hunt rejigged his midfield just before the hour mark. Off went Okine-Peters, Reading’s number 10 in the 4-2-3-1, replaced by holding midfielder Senga, who sat next to Borgnis while Wellens pushed up.

Just after, Carson came close to making it 3-1 with a sweetly struck free-kick that seemed destined for the top corner. Forest ‘keeper Aaron Bott was equal to the task though.

Hunt turned to his bench once more a few minutes later, swapping Wareham for Tuma up top, and that’s when things started to happen. Tuma almost restored Reading’s two-goal advantage with his first touch when he forced another save out of Bott, who tipped Tuma’s effort over after Akande had won the ball high and squared it.

In the 67th minute, Reading finally found another way through. Patient play down the left through Wellens and Senga eventually allowed Carson into a dangerous crossing area. His delivery was deflected, but regardless fell perfectly for Clarke to head home for 3-1.

The closing stages were largely straightforward for Reading. Wellens came fairly close to making it 4-1 with a well hit free-kick that was parried away, although Forest had their moments to make it 3-2. Joe Gardner scythed through Reading’s left flank at one point - far too easily - and Stickland had to be on hand to block a shot from close range. Later, an outswinging corner was glanced just wide of the far post.

Forest couldn’t find a way back into the game however, and Reading ran out deserved 3-1 winners.

At risk of repeating myself from the Middlesbrough match report, the pleasing thing is that this wasn’t a win defined by individual brilliance, but by collective strength. This is a well-tuned, disciplined, organised and spirited side that’s more than the sum of its parts, and huge credit has to go to manager Hunt for the job he’s doing.

On the goal contribution front, the obvious praise has to go to Clarke and Carson, who came away with a brace of goals and assists respectively. The former is actually in a rich vein of scoring form at the moment - six in seven - so this is an aspect of his game that’s worth watching as he hopefully steps up to senior football next season.

His versatility is also a joy. Clarke can seemingly play anywhere down the left side: centre-back in a pairing, in a three, at full-back, wing-back and as a winger. That’ll do him no harm as an option for Ruben Selles, although it would be ideal if he can settle on one or two positions so his development is focused. We’ve seen youngsters come through before and suffer from not nailing down a defined spot.

Otherwise, I rated Ryan at right-back: a tidy, left-footed but apparently quite ambipedal player who’s comfortable pushing forward. He also seems happy to drift inside, and can play at left-back too, so that dynamism may mark him out to Selles as a Clinton Mola successor.