The Grecians had numerous chances in the second half but were unable to convert, while the Royals were left frustrated as they were unable to break down the relegation-threatened team. Noel Hunt chose an unchanged side from Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Wigan Athletic, with Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan returning to the bench after suffering a head injury in the previous home game against Birmingham City. In a low-quality game played in front of a season-low attendance of 7,955, neither team produced anything noteworthy in the opening half. Within three minutes, Harvey Knibbs had a shot blocked, and Billy Bodin volleyed wide following an amazing Charlie Savage cross-field pass, but that was the extent of goalmouth action between two sides at opposing ends of the table.

Despite the paucity of stops by either custodian, Reading looked the more dangerous of the two teams and would have hoped to build on that in the second half. Unfortunately for the hosts, such was not the case, and the bottom-half Grecians were perplexed as to why they had not taken the lead. The final 30 minutes were fruitful for Exeter’s opportunities, but they went begging in some way. First, Ryan Trevitt fired a long-range attempt wide, but it was on 67 minutes that the visitors should have scored. Andre Garcia lost possession in Exeter territory and Tony Yogane beat Andy Yiadom before standing a cross up to the back post and the unmarked Josh Magennis. Unselfishly, the experienced forward headed the ball back into the danger zone where Trevitt stood. Mistiming his strike, the Royals managed to clear.

Just four minutes later, Amadou Mbengue was fortunate to see his sliced cross deflect against his own crossbar, with Pereira smothering the follow-up attempt. Tyler Bindon was called upon in the final ten minutes, thwarting Sonny Cox with a last-ditch challenge after the Royals gave up possession in their own half, much to the chagrin of those remaining in attendance. Despite being on top and looked the most likely to win, Exeter appeared content with their point and excelled at the ‘dark arts’ of slowing the game down, including a boring seven minutes of extra time. The Royals could only muster a long-range strike from Lewis Wing, which Joe Whitworth easily defended Remaining unbeaten, Reading travel to relegation-threatened Crawley Town on Saturday in the early 12.30pm kick-off.

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