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Savage puts Royals ahead inside five minutes, with what proves to be winner New Reading boss Leam Richardson's first league match in charge Royals climb from 20th to 12th in League One Stevenage fourth in table and would have gone top with win Get Involved: Use button at top of page or #bbcefl on X Kate Holloway and Joe Boon Reading 1-0 Stevenage Bit of confusion there. The referee has his red card out for the previously-booked Jeriel Dorsett but after a conversation with his assistant, apologies are made. It's in fact a case of mistaken identity as Daniel Kyerewaa receives a caution instead. Both players were involved in the challenge on a Stevenage man but it was clearly Kyerewaa's foul. Took the officials a while but they made the right call in the end. Reading 1-0 Stevenage One minute of added time left to go. Looks like it's going to be a very happy half-time break for the home side. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Stevenage have a flurry of corners minutes left on the clock until the half time whistle. Harvey White whips it deep and it's nodded onto Lewis Freestone, who heads it with pace. Royals keeper Joel Pereira sets himself to deny the defender but quickly withdraws his efforts when he sees it heading wide once more. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Steve Watkins BBC Three Counties Radio It's a position Stevenage have been in before this season with a below-par first half. They just have to make sure it doesn't get any worse for them before half-time because Reading have certainly had the upper hand. And they've got that goal. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan slices a fantastic ball across to Daniel Kyerewaa bursting up the right flank. Boro keeper Filip Marschall is drawn off his line and sees the ball ricochet off his gloves as he slides down on the floor to block. Mouth-watering opportunity for the Royals. Reading 1-0 Stevenage There will be a lot of Royals fans happy with what Leam Richardson has brought to the home ground tonight. Stevenage are going forward but so far, no dice. Once again the visitors are unable to find a shot at goal while in the attacking final third. Use button at top of page or #bbcefl on X Been impressed with Reading so far. We look well organised under Richardson so hopefully can see out the win. COYR! Dan, Cheltenham Reading 1-0 Stevenage Now Reading have a free-kick that's looped into the middle of the box. It falls for Jeriel Dorsett but he can't fully see it behind the towering figure of Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan in front of him and scuffs it high. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Finally - Stevenage have got a shot off! It's Lewis Freestone who is rising to meet Harvey White's free-kick but his header doesn't make a difference on Royals keeper Joel Pereira's heart rate. Well off-target. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Tim Dellor BBC Berkshire sport editor Chem Campbell is back against Reading this evening having signed for Stevenage. I always thought he had some good moments when he played for Reading. This game is stumbling along. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Reading have had more than 62% of the possession and six shots with two on target so far. Stevenage have not troubled the home goalkeeper. If you were coming in cold, I doubt you'd be able to guess the team seeking top spot tonight based on those statistics. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Daniel Kyerewaa is charging forward and takes aim but Boro captain Carl Piergianni arrives in time to work in tandem with teammate Charlie Goode to deflect it out for a corner. Good defending but Reading still on the attack. New Royals boss Leam Richardson will be a happy man. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Lewis Wing has the ball a couple of metres away from the box and the crowd are crooning 'shooooot'. There's no sightline through and he sees the possession fall back to the Boro. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Now it's Stevenage's turn to have a sustained period of attack. They try to carve out a path towards goal but find it tricky, seeing it fall all the way back to stopper Filip Marschall and kicked up long in an attempt to evade the Royals backline. It just ends up back in the hosts possession though and Boro are not able to form any kind of real threat. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Reading's Jeriel Dorsett is the first name in the bad books for pulling back a visitor. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Steve Watkins BBC Three Counties Radio I feel I've had all the wind sucked out of me. I thought Stevenage were going to have a really good go here early on, so far it's been anything but that. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Reading have another cross into the box but Lewis Freestone is quick to knock it out of play before a Royals team-mate can reach it. Reading 1-0 Stevenage Mick Gooding Ex-Reading player/manager on BBC Radio Berkshire Great finish from Savage, a fantastic start from Reading, they've hardly given Stevenage a kick. Ehibhatiomhan had one cleared off the line moments before, but Savage has bent it just inside the keeper's left-hand post. Charlie Savage Wow, what a goal to open the scoring! Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan can't find the angle to sneak his header across the line but Reading keep the ball flying around the penalty box before it finds Charlie Savage on the edge of the area. The midfielder winds up and lets rip, seeing the ball soar into the top right corner. A lovely way to mark his 100th league appearance for the Royals, wouldn't you say? Reading 0-0 Stevenage Reading already have the ball in the box for Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan but the forward doesn't win the duel and captain Lewis Wing is too late to get anything on the loose ball. Charlie Savage, 22, has already made 114 appearances for Reading Reading beat Stevenage thanks to a first-half strike by Charlie Savage that gave new Royals boss Leam Richardson victory in his first league match in charge. Savage, son of Forest Green boss and ex-Wales midfielder Robbie - who was in attendance at the Select Car Leasing Stadium - curled home what proved to be the winning goal just five minutes in. Stevenage came close to an equaliser in the second half when Gassan Ahadme took advantage of a defensive mix-up but his powerful strike cannoned off the crossbar. Fourth-placed Stevenage, who would have gone top of League One with victory, are now without a win in their past three games while Reading, who began the night just one place above the bottom four, jump up to 12th. The Royals started the game well as Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan had a header cleared off the line before his side then took the lead thanks to a beautiful strike by Savage. The midfielder received the ball in the left corner of the box and sweetly struck home with his right foot into the far side netting for his first goal of the season. Reading came close to doubling their lead on the half-hour mark as Lewis Wing whipped in a cross from the right and found Jeriel Dorsett who just lifted the ball over the crossbar with a mis-hit effort. Just before the break the referee pulled out a red card for the previously booked Dorsett but, after a conversation with his assistant, it was adjudged a case of mistaken identity and Daniel Kyerewaa received a caution instead. Stevenage started the second half much better than they did the first and had a great chance to level the game but the woodwork came to Reading's rescue. Royals full-back Kelvin Abrefa played a backpass that was poorly judged and put Boro striker Ahadme through on goal and he took a touch to the right before letting fly with a shot that crashed against the crossbar. That would prove to be as close as Stevenage would come to an equaliser, although Reading keeper Joel Pereira did make a fine double save from Dan Kemp and Phoenix Patterson, as the hosts gamely held out. Reading boss Leam Richardson speaking to BBC Radio Berkshire: "We stared the game terrifically well and it was a well earned goal. "I'm possibly disappointed that we didn't go again as we had chances where we could have been better. "The game petered out into quite an even game but we always said that if we met the challenge that Stevenage brought then our quality would come through and it did. "Looking forward we have to take small steps individually to become a good collective team in and out of possession. " Stevenage boss Alex Revell speaking to Sky Sports: "We started the game really poorly. We struggled just to get together with the shape that they had. "Second half we came out much better and pushed. I thought it was us who was going to go on to win the game. I thought there was a massive chance we should have taken and if we'd taken that. .. "It's difficult when you don't start fast, it's hard to grow into the game. "We were slow in our play which isn't like us. We've missed an opportunity to go top but we just have to keep going. " After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 6th November 2025 at 21: 53 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Leam Richardson Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Alex Revell Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Leam Richardson Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Alex Revell Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 League One All competitions All competitions All competitions Reading remain unbeaten across their opening four league games against Stevenage (W2 D2), with both matches finishing 1-1 in League One last season. Stevenage have kept just one clean sheet in their last 13 away league games, having recorded seven shutouts in their previous 13. Reading are still yet to score a goal from a set piece situation in League One this season, the only side without one in the competition. Their last came through Billy Bodin vs Barnsley back in May last season. Stevenage are one of two sides to win 10 points from losing position in League One this season, alongside Cardiff City (10). In their last league fixture, they came back to draw 1-1 with Bradford City despite conceding the opening goal in just the third minute. Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.