“It was massive for us. We’ve had a difficult period, so putting two wins together (against Bedfont and Burnham) and keeping two clean sheets gives everyone a bit of belief and confidence,” he said.
“The clean sheets are particularly pleasing because we’ve worked hard on being more solid as a team.
“It’s important now that we don’t get carried away and make sure we build on it. It’s only September, and these are long seasons, so we need to continue to get better and progress as a group.”
This was only Burnham’s second league defeat of the season in 11 games, and their first away from home. As a result, they lost top spot to Ardley United, who hammered bottom-of-the-table Holyport 4-0.
The first half was even at Rivermoor Stadium, but the Cityzens broke the deadlock in the 39th minute with a superb goal.
Burnham keeper Archie Cunningham raced out of his area to clear the ball, but it fell kindly to Joel Valentin, who wasted no time in hammering a long-range shot from out on the left wing into an empty net.
Not surprisingly, Valentin was later voted man of the match.
Ollie Harris and Riley Denny were not far away from doubling their side’s lead before half-time.
On the hour mark, Harris found himself with only Cunningham to beat, but his shot sailed over the bar.
With Burnham threatening to equalise, City badly needed a second goal to secure all three points, and they got it in the 80th minute when, from the edge of the area, Henry Paxford found the bottom right corner of the net.
Reading’s fifth win in 11 games lifted them to fifth in the standings, behind Ardley, Burnham, Broadfields and Kidlington.
This coming Saturday, they are home again, with Wallingford & Crowmarsh the visitors. They sit eighth in the table, three points behind City having played two fewer games. Last Saturday, they lost 3-0 at home to Broadfields.
“It’s another important game for us,” Johnson commented.
“We know Wallingford will come here and make it difficult, so we’ll have to be at our best again. We’ve got to take the confidence from the last two games and approach Saturday with exactly the same hunger and work rate.
“Playing at home, we want to put on a good performance for the supporters and hopefully give them another three points to enjoy.”