Despite a courageous effort, ten-man Bristol Rovers lost 1-0 to Reading after Sam Smith’s second-half strike for the Royals in Sky Bet League One.
The Gas had won three of their previous four games in the third tier and threatened through Ruel Sotiriou’s low strike across the goal before the break, but most of the opportunities fell to the hosts.
Sam Smith had a goal disallowed for offside, and Harvey Knibbs' one-on-one strike was saved by Josh Griffiths before the Pirates went down to ten men.
Shaq Forde had already been booked in the first half and then received his marching orders for a second yellow after kicking the ball away, with Sam Smith slotting in Reading’s winner soon after. Mola forced Joel Pereira into two brilliant saves in the final stages, with the hosts coming away with the points.
Both teams started brightly, with Rovers passing the ball around sharply in possession, but Reading had the first chance inside the opening few minutes. Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan showed clever feet to get down the left side of the box to make space for a shot, lifting his effort over the bar.
The Royals then went close again midway through the first half. A flicked clearance from Grant Ward dropped to Harvey Knibbs, but his powerful strike across the goal was beaten away by Josh Griffiths.
The Gas were building into the contest and always had an outlet through Promise Omochere, who used his strength to hold up the ball and help his side get up the pitch. The forward started a brilliant counter that ended with Taylor Moore crossing towards Ruel Sotiriou, but he failed to get a strong connection on his acrobatic effort.
Rovers then had their best chance of the first 45 minutes just before the half-hour mark. Scott Sinclair chipped a clever pass through to Ruel Sotiriou, who raced down the left before sending his first-time shot just wide of the bottom-right corner.
The hosts then responded with an opportunity of their own soon after. Ben Elliott and Lewis Wing combined in a tight space on the edge before the latter of the duo curled a tame effort straight at Griffiths.
Talisman Omochere was forced off with an injury just before half-time, with Reading finishing strongly. Sam Smith chipped the ball over Griffiths and into the net but was marginally offside before Ruben Selles’ men had a massive opportunity to break the deadlock.
Knibbs made the most of an error from Connor Taylor, racing through on goal with Ehibhatiomhan open to his left, but went alone and had his shot saved.
Taylor quickly recovered from his mistake before the break to stop a certain goal after the restart. Ehibhatiomhan rushed through on goal and was one-on-one with Griffiths, but the defender got back brilliantly to make a brilliant block.
Rovers then went down to ten men after Forde was shown his second yellow card. The winger battled hard to retain possession in Reading’s half before rec kicking the ball away in frustration after conceding a free-kick, resulting in a red card after already being booked.
Reading pushed forward after gaining a man advantage and took the lead with a calm finish from Smith. Elliott slotted a pass down the right side of the box to the forward, who poked his strike through Griffiths’ legs.
Taylor tried to change the momentum in Rovers' favour, bringing on Jamie Lindsay and Bryant Bilongo to add fresh legs. It had the desired effect, with the Gas moving into the ascendancy.
Isaac Hutchinson raced through the middle of the pitch before seeing his shot from range deflect out for a corner, with Mola forcing Joel Pereira into a low save on his Royals return.
The former Chelsea man collected Jack Hunt’s deep cross and sent a swivelling strike towards the bottom corner, but the goalkeeper pushed it away before Jamie Lindsay’s rebound was blocked.
Mola then went close to giving Rovers a deserved equaliser in stoppage time. He collected the ball outside the box and whipped a shot towards the top-left corner, but the goalkeeper jumped across to flick it over.
There was further chaos from the following corner, but Moore's bundled attempt was pushed away before the full-time whistle.
Reading: Pereira, Elliott (Savage 74), Craig, Knibbs, Ehibhatiomhan, Smith, Bindon, Mbengue, Camara (Campbell 64), Wing, Garcia.
Subs not used: Button, Wareham, Holzman, Akande, Ahmed
Goals: Smith 66
Booked: Bindon 74
Bristol Rovers: Griffiths, Moore, Wilson, Mola, Sinclair (Bilongo 67), Ward (Lindsay 67), Omochere (Hutchinson 43), Sotiriou (Hunt 60), Taylor, Conteh, Forde.
Subs not used: Thomas, McCormick, Forbes.
Booked: Omochere, Hunt, Forde, Moore
Sent off: Forde 56
Referee: Simon Mather
Attendance: 12,843 (1608 away)
