17:30 BST Sheff Utd in 3rd spot w/72. Reading in 4th spot w/69. A win bumps Reading up to 3rd on GD and 3 pts behind Birmingham, at least until tomorrow when they play Charlton. Doyle & Hunt brothers back. Rosenior suspended. Recent form - D,D,L,W,D,D (includes a 2-2 home draw w/Charlton) Here's what's left of Reading's season: A-Blackpool (18) H-Barnsley (20) A-Derby (17) A-Norwich City (21) H-Birmingham (2) Here's what's left of Sheff Utd's season: H-Nottingham (22) A-Burnly (6) H-Swansea (8) A-Crystal Palace (13) Here's what's left of Birmingham's season: A-Charlton (24) H-Plymouth (19) A-Watford (15) H-Preston (7) A-Reading Ought to be interesting.
Not to anyone who has watched Reading over the last few months. Complete and utter crap from players who want to be in the premiership, but want it handed to them on a plate. When it gets difficult, they no longer have the heart for it, and have long since lost belief as well. The truth is, despite playing some terrific stuff earlier in the season, so even better than in our championship season in 2006, we inexplicably lost it when losing to Southampton way back in November, and haven't been remotely similar since. We got by for a couple of months on confidence, but when that dried up, we just had nothing left to offer. As for our promotion chances - We have as much chance of getting up as an impotence sufferer after 8 pints, and I actually think that's a good thing, as seeing this lot in the premiership would be a nightmare that only Derby County fans could relate to. A summer of moving on the older and higher earning players is probably required, rebuilding with a number of the younger players who have threatened to come through.
Perhaps it was wishful thinking on my part, but given Reading hasn't lost to Utd in a long time, I thought a good showing here followed by matches against relatively weak opponents for the remainder of the season just might help the club turn things around. Granted listening to the match isn't the same as seeing it, but it sounds like the boys started off well and there was some questionable officiating. Can you confirm the ref missed a clear hand ball and the guy that scored for UTD should have been given a 2nd yellow before he scored the only goal of the match? Not sure if I should just chalk those comments up to biased announcing. [EDIT]Just saw a few clips of Coppell's post-match interview and he looks like he'd rather be the captain of a boat off the coast of Somalia.
Finally, a win over Reading, it was a scrappy goal, but they all count. 2nd spot for 24 hours and now back down to 3rd, 1 point behind Birmingham after their 0-0 today. There is still going to be more twists and turns before the last match of the season. Cheers, GQ
It would be a miracle to make a promotion now. There is no way that we are going to pass Birmingham AND United and we have no momentum going into the playoffs. I would have to believe that this means an end to the run of Coppell as coach at Reading. He is not getting the most out of the squad anymore. Whatever was working before is not working anymore and he doesn't seem to have an answer to the problem.