Reading FC gave their fans more reason to cheer as a beautiful curling strike from Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan earned them three points against Northampton Town.
A tightly fought contest was decided by a single goal, one which was worthy of winning any contest as the substitute bent his shot into the far corner past the helpless goalkeeper.
The win lifts Reading up to 17th in the table onto 45 points and keeps them six points above the League One relegation zone.
Ruben Selles named an unchanged team from Reading’s 4-0 thumping victory over Cambridge United prior to the international break.
That meant that Joel Pereira maintained his spot in goal to make his third successive start.
There was no place for former Reading skipper Liam Moore in the Northampton side who missed out through injury.
With a sense of renewed optimism around the ground after the club confirmed that it had signed exclusivity on Tuesday with an unnamed party regarding a takeover, the team ensured the fans had even more to cheer.
Reading made a promising start when Femi Azeez used his pace to burn past Manny Monthe who in turn committed a foul just outside the box and was shown an early booking.
After some strong defending from Tyler Bindon, Reading created their first chance when a slick move ended with Ben Elliott striking wide.
The Royals’ best opportunity came when some neat footwork from Harvey Knibbs in the box allowed him space to cross for Sam Smith who had his header blocked off the line before Charlie Savage hit the ball into the ground and over the top on the rebound.
The Cobblers enjoyed a bright spell towards the end of the half and forced Joel Pereira into a number of stops to keep it level.
After Elliott had his pocket picked as the deepest Reading player in the half and that allowed Louis Appere to race down on goal, but the Royals stopper bailed his side out with a superb one-on-one stop.
Savage tried his luck once again when he was teed up by Sam Smith and shaped to shoot with an effort that flew a few inches over the top as the half ended goalless.
The game got underway with an early chance for Northampton when a slip from Pereira almost allowed them in, but they couldn’t take full advantage of the error.
Selles made his first change just before the hour which saw Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan take the place of Elliott on the left-wing.
The substitution paid off as Ehibhatiomhan tricked his way past two Northampton defenders into the box and curled a beauty that started outside of the far post before curving its way into the corner.
Reading had to soak up some pressure after taking the lead, but still looked to hurt Northampton on the break.
Mbengue put his body on the line on a few occasions to make some crucial blocks to stop the Cobblers from getting strikes away at Pereira.
Reading almost grabbed a second when Azeez’s effort bounced off the top of the crossbar just moments before he was replaced for the final few moments by Paul Mukairu.
Jon Brady’s side were unable to come up with a reply which meant that Reading took the points to climb their way up the standings.
Despite the win, Reading are still only six points above the drop zone after Cambridge, Port Vale and Cheltenham Town all picked up victories.
The Royals are back in action on Monday with an away trip to promotion hopefuls Bolton Wanderers, who are in third place.
Reading: Pereira, Mola, Mbengue, Bindon, Dorsett, Savage, Wing, Knibbs, Azeez, Elliott, Smith
Subs: Button, Abrefa, Holmes, Mukairu, Ehibhatiomhan, Wareham, Craig
Northampton: Moulden, McGowan, Sowerby, Guthrie, Sherring, Hoskins, Fox, Appere, Pinnock, Monthe, Leonard
Subs: Burge, Koiki, Simpson, McWilliams, Bowie, Springett, Dyche
Goals: Ehibhatiomhan 65’
Attendance: 15,451
