Backed by a contingent of 1,700 Royals fans, a Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan strike just before half time helped the Royals secure a well deserved point in the season opener against Birmingham City.
As always, the action was snapped by our Club Photographer, and you can check out the best of the action below:
Birmingham City hosted Reading on the opening day of the 2024/25 League One season.
Blues, who reportedly have had a transfer budget of around £20 million, were playing their first game in the third tier since 1995.
However, Chris Davies‘ side couldn’t turn over a resilient Royals outfit, who ironically had been under a transfer embargo all summer until early August after failing to pay debt owed to HM Revenue & Customs.
It wasn’t as if Reading were lucky to escape The Second City with a point though. Although Birmingham had 74% of the possession, the best chances of the first half all fell for Reading.
Birmingham were unlucky not to find a winner after Alfie May‘s 87th minute equaliser, but a draw was a fair result overall.
The game was a fascinating watch at a sold-out, rapturous and rejuvenated St Andrews. A lot was learned about what the season might look like for the two clubs involved.
Birmingham City and dominating the ball
Something which you really don’t associate with Birmingham if you have been watching them for a long time is dominating the ball.
However, Blues looked comfortable when looking to play out from the back and probe for clear opportunities to move the ball into an advantageous next phase of play.
Krystian Bielik was Birmingham’s stand out performer on the day. His ability to find a forward pass, or even drive the ball out of defence himself libero style meant Birmingham were not just keeping the ball, but looking relatively dangerous with it as well.
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