Reading FC leave it late but hold Bolton Wanderers to draw

In a display lacking attacking output until the final 20 minutes, a wasteful Bolton side took the lead early in the second half through Mason Burstow, but substitute Andre Garcia curled in an equaliser with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Noel Hunt made four changes from Saturday's 2-1 defeat to AFC Wimbledon, with Derrick Williams, Jeriel Dorsett, Mark O'Mahony and Kamari Doyle all coming in from the start.

It took 12 minutes for the games first attempt, former Wycombe Wanderers midfielder Xavier Simons firing wide from distance as the hosts already began to assert their dominance in the 'shots for' column. Before the half-hour mark the Royals were on the ropes, goalkeeper Joel Pereira breaking up the play and allowing Noel Hunt to speak to his players and stem the flow of the game.

It took 38 minutes for the Royals to have a meaningful attack, Doyle spinning in midfield and feeding Daniel Kyerewaa out wide, only for his cross to land comfortably in the arms of goalkeeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe. The closest the Trotters came to opening the scoring in the first half was through Amario Crozier-Duberry as the bright winger saw a curled strike come back off the post.

After the break, it was more of the same as Steven Schumacher's side enjoyed almost the entirety of the attacking play. Within five minutes of the restart Crozier-Duberry had come close, firing wide, and it came as no surprise that the hosts took the lead seven minutes into the second half. Earning a bit of luck with their approach to the game, striker Burstow saw his deflected strike wrong-foot Pereira and nestle in the corner of the net. It was a lead which was thoroughly deserved, and should have been doubled by Crozier-Duberry moments later but his effort flew narrowly wide of the far post.

Joel Randall was the next to fire wide on the hour mark while Crozier-Duberry forced a save out of Pereira in what began to feel embarrassing for the Royals. It took 70 minutes but the 300 travelling supporters were given a shot on target to applaud, Abrefa curling an effort into the arms of the keeper.

Changes were made in the final 20 minutes and the Royals began to become more of an attacking threat- especially on the right-hand side. With less than 10 minutes to go, teenager Garcia received the ball on the edge of the box and his curled effort deflected off the defender and looped over the goalkeeper and into the net to snatch an unlikely equaliser to stun those in attendance.

Seeing out the final 10 minutes, including five minutes of stoppage time, the Royals stopped the rot of three successive league defeats despite remaining second-best for almost the entirety of the evening.

A first point of the season, Reading remain above Peterborough United and Wycombe Wanderers ahead of a trip to Adams Park on Saturday for a Berks-Bucks clash.