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Meite scores, Olise provides assist in Reading defeat to Birmingham City
The Ivory Coast international and the Nigerian forward delivered impressive performances for the Madejski Stadium outfit
Yakou Meite found the back of the net while Michael Olise provided an assist in Reading’s 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City in Thursday’s championship game.
Ivory Coast international, Meite, was afforded his 11th league start and utilized the opportunity to add to his tally, combining well with Olise in the encounter.
Reading started the game unimpressively allowing Birmingham City to open the scoring through Lukas Jutkiewicz in the fourth minute of the game.
Nigerian forward Olise then set up Meite with a fine pass to level proceedings for the Madejski Stadium outfit in the 35th minute.
Harlee Dean scored what turned out to be the matchwinning goal in the 72nd minute for Birmingham City.
Meite featured for 70 minutes before he was replaced by George Puscas, struck three shots and made 17 touches on the ball.
The centre-forward has now scored seven goals and provided one assist in 16 Championship appearances this season.
Olise was on parade for the entirety of the game while his compatriot Ovie Ejaria was introduced into the match in the 71st minute for Josh Laurent
Olise had 84 touches on the ball, made two key passes and struck two shots as part of his contribution in the encounter.
The 19-year-old Nigerian forward has registered five goals and provided 10 assists in 37 appearances across all competitions.
The defeat saw Reading dropped to the sixth spot on the Championship table after gathering 61 points from 37 games.
Meite and Olise will hope to help the Royals return to winning ways when they slug it out against Queens Park Rangers in their next league game on Saturday.
Olise was promoted to Reading’s first team in 2019 and has been delivering eye-catching performances for the side.
The forward also previously featured for Manchester City and Chelsea’s youth setup before teaming up with the Royals in 2016.
Olise is eligible to play for the Nigeria national team through his father and also qualified to play for France and England.
