Reading FC stopped the rot of seven straight Championship defeats in a goalless draw away at relegation rivals Peterborough United.
In a game that lacked quality from either side, the point keeps the Royals one place and two points above the Posh in the fight for survival.
After speculation regarding his future after the Coventry defeat, Veljko Paunovic remained in charge for Reading’s huge relegation clash at London Road.
The Royals made two changes from Saturday’s defeat as Yakou Meite made his way into the team for his first start of the season, while Danny Drinkwater replaced the injured Josh Laurent.
In difficult conditions for both teams with high winds having a huge effect on the game, Peterborough looked to take advantage by pumping the ball into the box.
Reading’s first venture forward saw Yakou Meite go on a driving run down the right-wing, but he couldn’t find Lucas Joao in the middle when his low cross was collected by Steven Benda.
Reading keeper Karl Hein was called into the action for the first time in the 10th minute when Michael Morrison was charged down by Ollie Noburn. The ball fell for Jonson Clarke-Harris who took a quick swipe at goal with a powerful effort that was smartly saved by the Estonian keeper that got down low to save.
A couple of decent set-piece opportunities were wasted by the hosts when Joe Ward got far too much power on his deliveries.
Hein made another important stop when he got in the way of Nathan Thompson’s speculative strike from range.
Peterborough skipper Norburn picked up the first caution of the game when he flew in late on John Swift having already been warned by the referee.
The Royals got forward through Tom Ince on the left and his pull back into the box just evaded Lucas Joao before Baba Rahman misconnected with a poor shot that went harmlessly wide.
Reading’s best opening of the half came with a free-kick just outside of the box when Andy Rinomhota was tripped by Jeando Fuchs.
Ince hit a sweet strike at the keeper’s side that lacked the direction to trouble Benda who pushed the ball over his bar.
The Posh gave Reading a late scare in the half when an inviting cross was headed goalwards by Fuchs and after Hein fumbled the ball, Morrison had to divert it away from danger on the line.
Neither side made a change coming out for the second-half in what was a game that lacked quality in the opening 45 minutes.
Hayden Coulson picked up a yellow within seconds of the restart for barging over Meite.
That led to a huge chance from the aftermath of a free-kick when Ince’s goal found Tom Holmes who guided a header towards goal that dropped a whisker wide of the back post.
.
The hosts had a spell of consistent pressure with set pieces after Yiadom’s handball. Ward fizzed in a fantastic cross that flew over everyone and fell for Thompson at the back post but he couldn’t get the desired contact to finish.
After a quiet period in the game, Meite came close when he stung the gloves of Benda with a hit from distance.
The Posh responded when Kwame Poku unleashed a strong hit that was pushed away from Hein as both sides searched for a moment of quality to break the deadlock.
Reading created their best chance of the half when Rahman found Swift in the middle with a cross. The Royals’ top scorer couldn’t get enough pace or direction to beat the keeper.
There was more danger for Reading when Hein came out of his goal to punch away the ball that left the chance for Ward to try and place the ball into an unguarded net, but Morrison was again brilliantly placed to make a pivotal clearance.
Another excellent chance fell the home team’s way when a free-kick was swung into the six-yard box only for Josh Knight to head the ball over from a few yards out.
Paunovic made a change with 10 minutes left when Meite was replaced by Tom Dele-Bashiru.
Joao nearly came up with a moment of magic when he skipped past two challenges and looked set to score but could only muster a tame shot on goal.
Neither side were able to find a winner which brought to an end Reading’s losing run of eight matches as they recorded their first clean sheet in 19 matches.
The Royals are away at Preston North End on Saturday.
Peterborough: Benda, Knight, Thompson, Kent, Coulson, Fuchs, Norburn, Poku, Ward, Brown, Clarke-Harris
Subs: Szmodics, Grant, Cornell, Marriott, Jones, Morton, Mumba
Reading: Hein, Yiadom, Morrison (c), Holmes, Rahman, Drinkwater, Rinomhota, Meite, Swift, Ince, Joao,
Subs: Southwood, McIntyre, Dele-Bashiru, Camara, Leavy, Clarke, Abrefa
