Reading v Fulham - 11/25/06 - Pre/During/Post Match [R]

[mschofield]

Lita is coming on. We're within a minute of the final whistle (twominutes added). Crapppppppp. blow the whistle, blow the whistle....Reading tackling hard. bit frantic, though.

[aguy2die4]

come on Reading hold the ball for 30 sec. Lita on for Seol....lol 20 sec left

[mschofield]

What a great win. We're going to be secure by New Year. three wins on in a row.

[aguy2die4]

lol congrats to Reading........."3 points" AWAY!

3 points 3 games in a row

9 points

[prvev]

Great win. Wow. Didn't expect that. Not really a great performance considering it was 11 v 10, but certainly good enough.

[aguy2die4]

Great win. Wow. Didn't expect that. Not really a great performance considering it was 11 v 10, but certainly good enough.

yes. Harper cross and Dolye's run that led to the PK and sending off, were great .

at that point, thought Reading would be able to take full advantage of the one man adv, even if Doyle misses the PK. with hindsight thank god Dolye didnt fluff it! :)

But Fulham came out even stronger and more focused after the sending off, whereas Reading loss two key players in Sidwell and Little consecutively.

Fulham had a lot of set piece chances in the first half but didnt convert any as usual. In the 2nd half they played well and couldnt tell that they were only playing with 10 men. Reading looked disjointed, with no effective midfield, whereas Fulham playing thru the wings kept running at Readings goal mouth, which resulted in several good shots on goal not to mention quite few goal mouth scrambles. Top marks to Hanehmann, couple of key saves, one of which was against McBrides header (the header was not perfect and the angle acute but it was low, and Hanehmann had to get down quick).

Dolye and Shorey was excellent but they weren’t enough to overcome the sudden disappearance of Readings midfield.

Seol had two great chances in the 1st half, one midrange shot at the goal reminiscent of his first goal in a Readings uniform, he had beaten Boa Morte and the strike looked good except it hit Dolye who was running into the box. Did you guys see Boa Morte screaming at Rosenior, straight afterwards, for not being in position? Seol 2nd chance in the first half was fluffed and went sky high.

In the 2nd half Seol made a handful of nice crosses, one of which was a great back heel across the box (the backheel traveled about 10 yards) but Dolye (think it was him) couldn't convert it. Another one was a cross straight across the goal mouth to Oster, but Oster mishit it and it bounced off the ground and floated over the goal.

Hunt was muscled off the ball a lot today. His best moments came near the end of the game when he ran into the box with ball but got tackled and when he crossed across the goal mouth but Seol and Oster missed it by inches.

Gunnarsson for Sidwell was not so bad defensively but without Sidwell there were no build up in the midfield, and no quick release of the ball for counter attacks.

Oster for Little was poor. Oster was poor defensively and not very good offensively.

Hopefully, both Sidwell and Little injuries are not too serious, although i heard that Little had a little niggling injury before the game, hope its not aggravated too much.

In all, today’s game turned out tough like people thought it would be before the game, but for different reasons. However, Reading hung tough and got that 3 points, and what a sweet 3 points it is. :)

[mschofield]

Okay, it's almost December, 14 games in, and Reading are in 6th, trailing Arse on goal-difference.
I'm gonna say not a lot of folks were predicting this one.

[prvev]

A point away from a Champions League spot...:D

[whipsmart13]

yes. Harper cross and Dolye's run that led to the PK and sending off, were great .

at that point, thought Reading would be able to take full advantage of the one man adv, even if Doyle misses the PK. with hindsight thank god Dolye didnt fluff it! :)

But Fulham came out even stronger and more focused after the sending off, whereas Reading loss two key players in Sidwell and Little consecutively.

Fulham had a lot of set piece chances in the first half but didnt convert any as usual. In the 2nd half they played well and couldnt tell that they were only playing with 10 men. Reading looked disjointed, with no effective midfield, whereas Fulham playing thru the wings kept running at Readings goal mouth, which resulted in several good shots on goal not to mention quite few goal mouth scrambles. Top marks to Hanehmann, couple of key saves, one of which was against McBrides header (the header was not perfect and the angle acute but it was low, and Hanehmann had to get down quick).

Dolye and Shorey was excellent but they weren’t enough to overcome the sudden disappearance of Readings midfield.

Seol had two great chances in the 1st half, one midrange shot at the goal reminiscent of his first goal in a Readings uniform, he had beaten Boa Morte and the strike looked good except it hit Dolye who was running into the box. Did you guys see Boa Morte screaming at Rosenior, straight afterwards, for not being in position? Seol 2nd chance in the first half was fluffed and went sky high.

In the 2nd half Seol made a handful of nice crosses, one of which was a great back heel across the box (the backheel traveled about 10 yards) but Dolye (think it was him) couldn't convert it. Another one was a cross straight across the goal mouth to Oster, but Oster mishit it and it bounced off the ground and floated over the goal.

Hunt was muscled off the ball a lot today. His best moments came near the end of the game when he ran into the box with ball but got tackled and when he crossed across the goal mouth but Seol and Oster missed it by inches.

Gunnarsson for Sidwell was not so bad defensively but without Sidwell there were no build up in the midfield, and no quick release of the ball for counter attacks.

Oster for Little was poor. Oster was poor defensively and not very good offensively.

Hopefully, both Sidwell and Little injuries are not too serious, although i heard that Little had a little niggling injury before the game, hope its not aggravated too much.

In all, today’s game turned out tough like people thought it would be before the game, but for different reasons. However, Reading hung tough and got that 3 points, and what a sweet 3 points it is. :)

This win does two things:
(1) It tells team management that we are NOT going to be relegated this season and that this team can play in the Premiership week in/week out with at least 15 of the teams.
(2) We need to get some quality depth at Striker and at Midfield on January 1st. The dropoff between Sidwell/Little to Gunnarson/Oster was tremendous and could have cost us the game if Fulham connected on a few of the set pieces in the box. Another Striker will allow Seol to go back to midfield and another tough midfielder will allow us to keep a fresh rotation of folks. Hunt is a hustler but he does not cut it...especially with Gunnarson/Oster in the midfield with him.

_______________________________
Let's hope Convey is ready to go next week as well as Little and Sids.

[whipsmart13]

A point away from a Champions League spot...:D


Euro Cup baby!

[K:theCore]

Euro Cup baby!


To take Arsenal's spot would be completely rewarding.

[RichardL]

43 years ago today Jack Ruby shot dead Lee Harvey Oswald live on TV. There’s no link at all between that event and today’s match, but it’s a fair bet that few people will recall much about this match is 43 hours time, let alone 43 years.

All of the football played between these two clubs for the last generation or so had taken place in the turgid depths of England lower professional divisions, so it was perhaps as a fitting tribute to those times that both teams put on a display worthy of gracing the Autoglass Trophy Preliminary Round, and perhaps it would be better to describe it in least detail possible. Not that it was ponderous game. Both teams knocked the ball around quickly and moved quickly off the ball too, it was just the accuracy and guile to combine the two into effective football that was lacking.

Reading’s aims in this direction weren’t helped by first half injuries to Sidwell & Little, who were both looking likely to be among Reading’s more creative players in the afternoon. Luckily they’d already played a part in setting up the game’s pivotal moment when Pearce brought down Doyle as he burst clear on goal. Pearce was given an early chance to admire the fine Tudor gables of the Cottage that famously sits in the corner of this ground, and Doyle made no mistake from the spot, giving Reading an early lead they never looked like losing.

After perhaps harsh criticism of the amount or goals they’ve conceded, the defence built the platform for victory with a clean sheet. With a rear more solid than that of a man on army rations and industrial strength Imodium, Reading had the luxury of being able to sit on the lead and break as chances arose. And this is what Reading chose to do. The only other truly memorable thing I can recall from the whole of the first half was a very bad miss by Brian McBride, his header from 6 yards being tamer than a tiny kitten, which Marcus smothered like a serial killer’s 12th victim, in a game where he didn’t put a foot wrong. Other than that, a Pork & Mushroom pie, a bargain at £2.50, was possibly the next best thing, as the game had the look of one where there’d be more chances to score at a Vatican works Christmas party than on the pitch.

The second half was better, or just less bad. Hunt on the left, less welcome than a Guinness fart in a car just a mile and a half up the road, slowly got more into the game, but never that well. Seol often ended up doing the work on the right, but a lack of numbers up front meant that his work often came to nothing. His sort of up front/sort of midfield role doesn’t look to quite be working, but the results are coming, so it’s not all bad.

Much of the second half had the look of a game that Reading were about to finish off, but never quite did so. Fulham’s best chance to equalise came from McBride – a fine 25 yard shot which looked to have been borrowed from a different match, so out of place was its quality, but even that went wide.

So, with the predictability of a teen movie, Reading saw out time and claimed the points. It’s not one for the video collection, but it’s not figure skating and there are no extra points for artistic merit, so nobody at Reading will moan too loudly. 22 points from 14 games is almost dreamworld, even if today how those points were acquired should be veiled with a modesty that Burqa-clad women would baulk at. For Reading, like a desperate guy on the pull nearing closing time, we’ll take whatever we can get and worry about how pretty it is in the morning. For now, just enjoy the grind.

[korean_soccer123]

lol since u mentioned arsenal they lost 3-1 to bolton who reading play next:eek: .

but it was brilliant football for the whole 90 minutes, arsenal hitting the post 3 times.......1000 times more enterataining then todays reading match, no offence

[superdave]

A point away from a Champions League spot...:D

Remember Ipswich. :D

[mschofield]

lol since u mentioned arsenal they lost 3-1 to bolton who reading play next:eek: .

but it was brilliant football for the whole 90 minutes, arsenal hitting the post 3 times.......1000 times more enterataining then todays reading match, no offence

Arsenal is the most entertaining side on the planet right now. But that we're even on points says something about 1. their inability to finish and 2. an amazing job being done in Reading, starting with copps and moving down through every player on the roster.

[ChancellorElmer]

Watched most of the game on FSC, three in a row baby! Not too bad!