Jack Marriott earned his wages with goal in Burton win – Reading boss Richardson

Reading manager Leam Richardson praised Jack Marriott for doing “what he’s paid for” as the striker scored his ninth goal of the season in a comfortable 2-0 Sky Bet League One victory over Burton.

Marriott notched in the 18th minute with a glancing header and Daniel Kyerewaa added a second goal eight minutes before the break as Reading extended their unbeaten run to four matches.

“Jack’s all-round play is excellent for the team,” Richardson said.

“And Jack does what Jack does. He’s been at this level and the one above for years.

“I’ve told him that’s what he gets paid for, you’re meant to put it in the back of the net.

“So if he can keep doing that, that’s great for us.”

Reading stay 10th in the League One table, six points off the play-off places.

“It was a solid win today and the credit must go to the players,” Richardson said. “We managed the game in the second half extremely well.

“We had some good moments and some good actions throughout.

“We move on and we know that it’s a period in which we’ve got to be consistent and now regenerate because we’ve got another tough game on Sunday (at home to Stockport).

“We worked extremely hard in the first half and got in some really strong positions.”

Regarding the January transfer window opening, Richardson said: “You’ve always got to be self-aware of where you are, what you want and what the expectation is.

“We’ve got our own private conversations going on and we’ll work as hard as we can to come out this window better than we went into it.”

Burton suffered a second successive defeat and now sit in 20th, out of the relegation zone only on goal difference.

“In the first half, we really had a go,” Burton head coach Gary Bowyer said.

“We had some great opportunities, pressed really well and posed a threat. But we’ve got to be more ruthless in their penalty box.

“Reading’s two goals were poor from our point of view.

“Marriott should have been marked. We had three players in there, he should have been marked and we’re disappointed with that.

“And we were disappointed with the second goal, too.

“I think it summed it up for us today when we hit the post through Jake Beesley and it comes flying back out.

“Second half we huffed and puffed a bit, I think that’s a fair assessment.

“But we’ve got people playing who shouldn’t be playing (due to injury concerns) but we have to play them.

“They’re going above and beyond for us with their efforts.

“But in the second half, we just didn’t do it.”