Matt Ritchie leaps to defence of maligned Paddy Lane as former Portsmouth favourites delivers Reading drama
It’s been a season which has presented challenges for the League One title winner, but Paddy Lane stepped up with Matt Ritchie on Saturday - with the latter leaping to the defence of his team-mate.
Paddy Lane has been lauded as Reading’s ‘heartbeat’ as he kickstarted a difficult period following his exit from Fratton Park.
And former Blues favourite, Matt Ritchie, has tipped the League One title winner to have a big impact at the League One play-off chasers, as the pair served up a dramatic comeback victory for their current employers.
Matt Ritchie lauds Paddy Lane after tough Reading period
Lane and Ritchie grabbed a late goal apiece after leaving the bench for the Royals on Saturday, as they picked up an impressive 2-1 home win over high-flying Bradford City.
The Northern Ireland international hit the leveller in the 90th minute, as he fired home from a tight angle, before Ritchie’s 97th-minute header snared the three points for former Pompey coach Leam Richardson’s team.
It’s been far from plain sailing for Lane at the Madejski Stadium this term, with the 25-year-old missing two months with a tendon injury.
It’s also been just a single goal and assist from 26 appearances from Lane before the weekend, who has faced criticism from Reading fans - including some branding him among their club’s worst players in recent years.
That’s a very different story from the Fleetwood signing’s time in League One at PO4, as Lane had a strong impact on Pompey’s League One title success - with 20 goals contributions comprising 12 goals and eight assists.
Ritchie made it clear how much Lane and his current team-mates value the winger, as they aim for a strong end to the season under Richardson.
He told Reading’s YouTube channel: ‘I am so pleased for Pad. He is an amazing guy, such an energiser in the changing room every day. People won’t see that, but what an amazing lad, great player and he will have a big impact going forward for sure.
‘All players arriving at a new club want to get off the mark and get up and running. He has been in and out due to injury and fitness, probably but it is certainly not from a lack of effort from Paddy.
‘He is an amazing human being, first and foremost and all the lads are so pleased for him. He’s a great lad and everyday he’s the boy who energises the dressing room and is the heartbeat really.’
The Bradford win makes it five unbeaten for Reading, coming off the back of five games without a win which saw angst rise among the club’s fanbase.
Lane is Reading ‘heartbeat’
That leaves them a point outside the play-offs with 12 games to go, with the aim for the club to extend their season come May 2.
Ritchie added: ‘The lads have been working hard. We have conceded a few goals of late in dying moments, so it was good to be on the right side of it this time.
‘We went pushing. I feel that if we play with a bit more confidence and belief earlier in the game then we are not in that position because we have real quality within the group.
‘The aim is to do that earlier, but when we do commit bodies forward and our intentions are to score, we look like a really dangerous team.
‘It (the table) looks nice but we are not content. Good is the enemy of great and we are doing good at the minute, but we want to be higher than where we are. The work continues.’