The 100th meeting between the two sides ended with a familiar feeling of frustration as Bristol City were dominant but wasteful against a relatively average Reading side.
The Royals came for a point, playing with a back five out of possession and were happy to drop deep and play direct, feeding off the height of Andy Carroll and Yakou Meite. The onus was on the hosts and after Tommy Conway's goal on the stroke of half-time, there only seemed to be one outcome.
However, the Robins were punished for failing to find the second when Lucas Joao flicked on Carroll's header from a direct free-kick forcing Nigel Pearson's side to settle with a point. There was drama at the end with both sides having opportunities to win it.
Andy King hit the post from a brilliant Pring cross before Reading broke with numbers on the counter-attack deep into stoppage time. Joao was played through on goal but got the ball caught under his feet allowing City to go up the other end with Harry Cornick drilling a strike wide of the left post.
A point leaves City in 14th spot, five points away from entering the top half of the table with a trip to Stoke on Good Friday, aiming to pick up their first win in three matches. Here's the verdict from Ashton Gate.
Welcome back
Yesterday was Conway's first appearance since January 8th and Pearson's decision to throw him straight back into the side is perhaps a reflection of how City's current strikers have failed to keep their places over the last couple of months. In his pre-match press conference, Pearson spoke about how his forwards have struggled to fire on all cylinders, although he has little concern they'll be able to play themselves back into form.
Sam Bell had his purple patch in the New Year, firing City through the FA Cup rounds but hasn't since managed to kick on. Harry Cornick is another who has been handed his opportunity, starting in the last two defeats but hasn't done enough to hold on to his place while Andi Weimann continues to drift in and out of matches.
Therefore Conway's goal on his return would have cemented his place in the team going forward having fired his 10th of the season. The 20-year-old started in the No10 role (and we'll share why below) linking up play and reunited with strike partner Nahki Wells, who is also looking for his first strike since the win over Hull in February.
There were no signs of any rustiness in his game. In fact, he looked the most lively out of the front four players working the ball in dangerous areas and getting to the byline on two occasions in the second half, one of which should have led to a second when his team-mates were flat-footed from a delivery.
He'll undoubtedly start against Stoke on Good Friday but two games inside four days with Middlesbrough also on the horizon would seem ambitious and unnecessary given City are stuck in the mire of midtable obscurity.
However, he will have ambitions to end the season at City's top scorer and his goal moves him within one of Wells - more evidence of his terrific breakthrough campaign.
The aerial test
It promised to be an intriguing match-up ahead of kick-off between Zak Vyner and Cam Pring and Carroll and Meite. Particularly after the difficulties of going up against two physical strikers away at Luton before the international break.
Both Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo caused plenty of problems for the backline with the City centre-back pair finding it difficult to contain their strength and power. With Reading's direct approach, the City duo were always going to be tested with deliveries into the area.
Paul Ince's tactics were clear. Any opportunity to loft the ball into the box they took, with Vyner marking Carroll in open play with Pring dealing with him from set-pieces. The City defender was inevitably going to come off second best at times but he was up for the physical test and the backline were coming off on top until one poor passage of play.
It was a direct free-kick into the area, but Carroll was inexplicably left unmarked with his header being turned in by Joao. After the game, Pearson claimed it was people not doing their jobs, having defended well enough up until that moment.
He said: "I think the lads that were playing at the back have done really well. I thought they were outstanding really in lots of ways today. Like I say one set play and it's cost us, but that’s professional football and it's why we expect high standards and it's why the Championship needs a bit more respect.
"I thought we defended set-plays very well apart from the one in which they scored but there you are, that's life."
Reading had just 32.7 per cent of possession, with a 68 per cent pass success rate. In total, they had 240 passes (in comparison to City's 482) with 163 of those being accurate.
They'll be very little that irks Pearson more than being in control of a game only to throw away the points with a momentary lapse in concentration. In fairness, City have seemingly cut out those errors on the whole in comparison to last season but yesterday did feel like a setback in that regard.
A partnership in wait
It's becoming increasingly likely that Jay Dasilva will leave on a free transfer at the end of the season. Since he came into the side with Pring moving into central defence, he's had his opportunity to either convince the coaching staff he's deserving of a new deal (albeit on a reduced contract) or play for his future with other Championship sides.
It's evident he was free to leave in January had City signed a replacement, and while there's no suggestion his motivation levels aren't at what they should be, he hasn't produced the performances to suggest he could compete for a place alongside Pring going forward.
Yesterday he was defensively sound, as he usually is, but lacked a relationship with Anis Mehmeti. His link-up play was frustrating and he didn't provide the overlap which would have allowed the winger more space to work with.
And that's where City miss Pring down that left flank, consistently making those driving runs and drawing the defenders away from whoever is playing ahead of him. Since Mehmeti's arrival, the duo haven't had the chance to build that relationship but it's one that could flourish.
Kal Naismith is likely to come back into the picture over Easter, whether it's against Stoke or Middlesbrough and it will be interesting to see where Pearson deploys him on the pitch. He either plays him as the anchor man in midfield, or drops him back alongside Vyner and therefore pushes Pring out wide.
City's lack of taking their chances has been problematic - they've only scored more than twice in one of their last 10 league matches - but Pring's attacking qualities and ability to break forward with pace should ease those concerns going forward.
The state of the pitch
It has to be a concern when it starts affecting Pearson's team selection. When asked why Conway started as the No10 in favour of Weimann or Mehmeti, he responded: "To save his legs. We’ve got a very heavy pitch which doesn’t help us with sprinters or quick players, but he and Nahki like playing together so it puts them in close proximity. He’s good at pressing so it means that he can get around Hendrick, who’s an important player for them.”
At the end of the contest, Matty James was forced off with cramp with Pearson also putting it down to the heavy pitch. Yes, we've had a ridiculous amount of rainfall over the last month (although it feels like longer) which, combined with the Bristol Bears on Friday night, is also going to prove problematic.
It's an almost impossible task for the ground staff to deal with but there may have to be a solution going forward, particularly with the threat of injuries. At Preston, when Naismith pulled his calf, he said the state of the pitch contributed to his injury which could be in the back of his mind when the former Luton man makes his expected return.
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