Sent Off From The Bench

Adam Le Fondre notching 39 goals in 104 league appearances doesn't tell the whole story of a player who's scored more goals from then bench than any other player in a Premier League season. So often left out of the starting XI, but still finished the club's top scorer in all of his three seasons here. ALF seems to have always been disenchanted with his role at the club, seeing himself as more than a 'super sub', and the statistics would somewhat agree with him. Of the 27 games he started this season we won 13, or 48%. When not in the team that figure drops to 6 from 21, or 29%. Admittedly he was on the bench for the tough December run, and in matches away at Burnley, and Wigan, which may slightly skew this in his favour. For a team who were 16th in terms of goals from open play, and 20th in shots per game a clinical goalscorer is key. Le Fondre had the second best conversion rate, behind Hernandez, in the Premier League last season scoring on 22% of his shots. U...

Somehow with Reading faltering at home without a win in six they've managed to remain in the playoffs; it's fortunate that they've managed to pick up 16 points from 18 away from the Madejski. A game against Charlton should be a certain three points for The Royals sitting in the play-off places, but as a hard-fought game against Birmingham a fortnight ago showed it's not always that simple. The first half was completely devoid of any sort of quality, or passion. Drenthe overhit several crosses, and everything was so rushed. Charlton looked like a side who had the ability to cause problems, with pace and skill all over the pitch. Half an hour in and Reading started to take more time in possession, and play the ball around on the floor. There was no way through, and no chances, but it was a much better way to end the first forty-five minutes. The most excitement came when Gorkss wasn't allowed on the field for a couple of minutes after taking a knock to the head. I...

Reading showed their metal as they finished the game with 10 men after Kaspars Gorkss saw himself sent off against his old team. The Royals started strongly, and were quickly ahead when a flowing team move saw ALF cross straight onto Danny Williams' head - and the ball flew past Green's despairing dive. A scrappy goal, finished by Kevin Doyle, saw any momentum very quickly killed. Chance after chance to clear the ball was missed before Doyler somehow scored with his knees. Seeing him celebrate really did hurt. If there's every a time not to then it's probably against the club who made your career . The second half started slowly, seeing knocks to Pav and McCleary, before last week's naughty boy, Alex Pearce, tucked home a Jobi McAnuff corner and was swiftly followed by one of Garath McCleary's wonder strikes - which he seems to save for Harry Redknapp. From then on Reading were never really troubled, with QPR never really finding the right gear although Doyle ...

A first half hat-trick sealed the points well within the first 45 minutes for a Reading side who may be starting to click. Nigel Adkins fielded an unchanged side from the one who (somewhat fortuitously) beat Watford last weekend, with Danny Guthrie and HRK still sidelined through injury. It took 12 minutes before ALF rifled a shot past stand-in keeper Andrew Lonergan, and then again on the 28 minute mark. Within 33 he'd completed his hat-trick. McCleary dispossessed last man Tim Ream, and after bearing down on the keeper squared the ball to Le Fondre for his hat-trick. If you've ever played FIFA it was pretty much exactly how you'd score on the world's leading football video game. It was 4-0 before half-time when Alex Baptiste was adjudged to have handled inside the area (it was very fine margins) and Our Saviour converted from the penalty spot, expertly stroking the ball beyond the fingertips of Lonergan and into the bottom right corner of the net. The second half ...

Not exactly a great start to the new year in terms of weather, but Reading eventually brightened spirits with a last gasp goal to secure a point against promotion contenders Nottingham Forest. Reading looked lacklustre for almost the entire game, allowing former player Greg Halford to score with 10 minutes of the first half remaining. Putting away an Andy Reid free-kick with a looping header into the top-left corner of the net. In the second half Matt Derbyshire had two opportunities to seal the win for the away side, but both times fired wide right of the goal. Nick Blackman looked the liveliest player on the pitch in the first half and this continued far into the second until the addition of Royston Drenthe seemed to spark something in Reading. A fierce Guthrie shot from the edge of the area signalled the start of the Reading onslaught but it wasn't until the 95th minute when Matt Derbyshire fouled Gunter that Reading managed to get a decent ball into the box. For the phases ...

So the first game I've been to in a while, scheduling my coming back from university in time to make it. What an idiot. Two goals within the first 12 minutes of a game against a team in the bottom half of the table is not good enough. Okay, so yes their first goal - a lovely flowing counter attack which ended in a goal after two defenders blocked an earlier cross, leaving a man free on the edge of the area - was nice, but it highlighted the fact that Reading were playing without a midfield . Both Dannys (DD) were pushed up far too high, and with Gunter attacking up the wing as he normally does with no cover, it was far too easy to exploit all the space on our right hand side. The exact position which Jem Karacan was so adept at filling was where at least one-half of DD should have been. It was more Pearce at fault for the second goal, who was pulled off early in the second half for McCleary - but we have no other choices at CB, something which should have been addressed in the ...

An away trip to league leaders Burnley proved fruitless for Reading, who inflicted only the second defeat of the campaign. Reading came into the game having not lost in six, but with only a draw from the midweek game against Barnsley. Burnley quickly pressed Reading and some poor defending left the in-form Danny Ings with a simple finish. A flat ball went over Pearce's head, and Morrison couldn't get a foot on it to leave Ings with a one-on-one with the keeper, and somebody who already has ten goals this season rarely misses chances like that. Burnley had a spell of pressure until Sam Vokes went down to give the away side a respite. From there Reading looked safe, never really troubling Heaton in the opposition goal - apart from one looping Pogrebnyak header that was tipped over - but also managing to dispel Burnley. In the second half the action was again mostly around Alex McCarthy, who once again showed his worth with some terrific saves. In the 80th minutes Danny Guthri...

A dismal performance against bottom of the league Barnsley saw Reading somewhat fortuitously clinch a draw. The home side had more possession (55-45), more shots (19-8), more shots on target (6-3), and more corners (7-3) than The Royals and that really sums up the game. In the first period Barnsley dominated, having 10 shots to Reading's 2 but there was a spark at the start of the second half that saw Hal-Robson Kanu strike from 25 yards out right into the corner of The Tykes net on the 51st minute. Le Fondre was also clean through just prior to the goal, but Butland managed to repel the forward before the follow up was shot wide. Later in the half ALF was through again, this time set-up by Akpan but again the goalkeeper was up to the poacher's effort. In the battle of the young English goalkeeper it seemed as if though McCarthy had come off better. Butland, although being a good shot stopper, wasn't overly good at coming and claiming balls, a few times miscalculating. ...

So, being stuck in Peterborough - the home of nightmares for Reading fans - I had my first foray into the world of Reading Player to listen to the beautiful Tim Dellor and Mick Gooding narrate today's match hosting a Birmingham side who seemed to have kicked into gear in the last week, hammering Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 - all the goals from on-loan youngster Jesse Lingard - before beating holders Swansea in the League Cup 3-1 during midweek. Reading on the other hand had no mid-week game after being knocked out in the opening round, but since then the Royals have picked up 10 points from 12, and only conceded once. Birmingham's only away points were picked up against Yeovil, a 1-0 win, and they also drew 3-3 at Huish Park, before winning 3-2 on penalties. This then, should all make for a fairly easy Reading win.  And, it was. In the first half Birmingham hardly threatened the Reading defence, and a free-kick from Danny Guthrie found its way directly into the net. Almost the exa...

There was always two questions going into this game; How would the return of McDermott and Hunt be received, and would Brian be able to replicate the tactical victories that saw us take this division two years ago?  The first question was answered pretty much straight away with both of our former employees being warmly welcomed back to our humble abode, although that stopped almost the instant Leeds took a very familiar kick-off routine to the wing. Everything looked bleak within five minutes as a poor pass from Guthrie was collected by Ross McCormack, and in fouling him Jem managed to injure himself. Post-match Adkins and Pearce have both come out and the sounds coming out of the Reading camp are concerning. Looks like Karacan could be out for a long time, which is a shame as he was one of the only decent things to come out of the Brighton game. The poor guy must hate playing against Leeds.  This did, however, give Hope Akpan his first chance to impress in the league this s...

So, back from a game that the majority of people seemed to class as awful. I honestly didn't think it was that bad, and there's a lot of unnecessary doom and gloom around a club who tends to pick up after the start of the season. Especially seeing as in our first six games we've played three rivals for promotion and another who currently tops the league. Yes, maybe we should have won a couple of our earlier games - and there's no way we should have lost against Blackpool - but really it's the 6-0 cup defeat to Peterborough that's casting shadows, and our inability to sign the players promised by Adkins and Anton during the transfer window. We have to put that to the back of our minds, and there's no better way to do that than with the first game since the window closed. With Pogrebnyak starting up front alongside Drenthe and Le Fondre in what appeared to be a 4-3-3, and our record of beating Brighton in our previous six meetings with The Seagulls there see...