Huddersfield Town 3 Reading 1: Wagner's advice pays off for Wells

Wells atoned for two glaring first-half misses to finish in style early in the second period as Huddersfield bounced back from two successive defeats to halt Reading’s five-game unbeaten league run.

Substitute Sean Scannell, making his first appearance since January due to a knee injury, set up Jamie Paterson for Town’s second in the 61st minute and another replacement, Flo Bojaj, struck his first senior goal in the 87th minute before Ola John grabbed Reading’s consolation deep in stoppage time.

Wells hung his head in despair after twice being denied by Reading goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi before the break and Wagner was delighted with his response.

“I spoke with him at half-time and asked him if (Lionel) Messi took all his chances,” Wagner said. “Does (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic take all his chances?

“To miss a chance is part of the game. It’s totally normal to miss chances.

“The problem is, and I told him, his body language after he misses chances is horrible.

“Show nobody that you are angry. Show them that you are strong, that you can miss a chance and it’s okay.

“That’s all I said to him. Stay focused and you’ll get the next one.

“He scored a very good and important goal for us and he worked unbelievably hard for the team in defence.”

Wagner was delighted with his side’s win, but admitted they were not at their best for the full 90 minutes.

“We deserved this win from the first minute,” he added. “For large parts of the game there was only one team which tried to invest something in the offence.

“We’ve played better football in games this season, but to score three goals against Reading is massive for us.”

Reading boss Brian McDermott, who made six changes, said the game was one he would quickly forget, but appeared unconvincing when he denied his players had other things on their minds.

When asked if they had one eye on Friday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace, McDermott said: “No. I picked the team with a lot of the players who will be involved on Friday.

“There was nothing in the game for 50-odd minutes and they scored and it’s not been the greatest night.

“It was a tricky night for me to try and pick the team and make sure we were really competitive. I thought we were competitive, the players we put out, some haven’t played for a while.

“But they’ve given me everything and it’s just about Friday really. It will be out of my mind very quickly this game. Congratulations to Huddersfield, they’ve got their result.

“What enters my mind now is the next thing. We’ve got a massive day now to really look forward to at the Madejski Stadium with 20-odd thousand people on Friday night.”

Huddersfield: Steer, Smith, Hudson, Cranie, Husband, Whitehead, Dempsey, Lolley, Paterson, Bunn, Wells. Subs: Davidson, Scannell, Miller, Duane Holmes, Allinson, Bojaj, Booty.

Reading: Al Habsi, Gunter, Hector, Cooper, Taylor, McCleary, Williams, Evans, Piazon, Rakels, Kermorgant. Subs: Bond, Alex, Cox, Keown, Barrett, Stacey, John.

Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire)

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