Sent Off From The Bench

Should preface this with the fact I wasn't actually at the game Going into the game Cardiff had won four on the bounce at home, so a loss was to be expected but it was the manner of the defeat that is disappointing for Reading fans. Alex Pearce putting the ball in the wrong net - again - before dragging Le Fondre back for a penalty, an incident he as sent off for after the referee finally found a red card to show him. Yet again defensive lapses cost The Royals in a game they dominated for large periods. The first half saw Reading have 61% possession, and still went in 2-0 down thanks to Pearce. Worse still is that Cardiff were woeful , winning a measly 55% of challenges and hitting wayward passes a third of the time. Pearce's sending off saw Obita drop to LB, with Gunter moving into the middle. Cox came off for McCleary, and in the one positive he looked good despite being out for 6 months. One of our better chances came when he ran at the defense and played the ba...

Despite good wins over Rotherham and Blackpool Saturday afternoon's loss to Charlton Athetlic means that The Royals have only picked up 8 points from a possible 33, and only won twice in the last 11. The latest result comes despite Reading having 61% possession, twenty shots, and all twelve corners in a game which they dominated but rarely threatened - as the fact that only two of those twenty shots hit the target illustrates perfectly. The game started well for the home side, Murray nodding a cross from the right just over the bar. His link up play with Mackie and Cox was one of the positive points, although as the stats show it never led to much. Part of this was down to overplaying, ' the trouble with Arsenal is... ' style. Nobody seemed to want to shoot from the edge of the area, and thus Charlton could easily regroup and frustrate us. Obita's crossing didn't help much, almost every ball in from the left was easily dealt with. In fact, if you want a cas...