Sent Off From The Bench

If Nigel Adkins has brought one thing to this team then it's a horrible inconsistency. The turn of the year normally sparks Reading into life, but the same run that took us to the Championship title two seasons ago has failed to materialise. Brian McDermott's side showed a grit and determination to win games that seems to be lacking recently. McDermott was, of course, the latest victim of a team that can put anybody to the sword - but 5-1, and 7-1 wins weren't backed up and now The Royals are in very imminent danger of falling to 8th. Our last 6 read: L 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday Pearce sent off (rescinded) W 3-1 QPR Gorkss sent off (rescinded) L 0-1 Blackburn D 1-1 Yeovil Yeovil finish with 8 men   D 1-1 Brighton Brighton finish with 10 men W 4-2 Leeds Obviously the thing that jumps out straight away is that we saw 6 red cards in 5 games, but the worrying thing is that even Sheffield Wednesday managed to capitalise where Reading didn't - whether or not the red ...

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 ...

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...

So I took my seats rather late today, the players were already out on the pitch and the team was just being read out, but I couldn't manage to miss the lack of Billy Sharp. Widely reported yesterday to sign for Reading in time for the game today, but instead up front was our Russian striker who, up to this point, had seen red more times than he'd found the back of the net this year. Also notable was a first league start for academy graduate, Jordan Obita. In a largely dull first period there were glimpses of hope for Reading. McCleary having a few good runs down the right side, reunited on that wing with ex-Nottingham Forest team-mate Chris Gunter. It was also noticeable how Jordan Obita, supposedly playing in the Drenthe free-role, enjoyed sticking to the left-half of the pitch. The new-boy did play well, even if he didn't look anything special he didn't look like a young player coming into a team in transition. Alex McCarthy pulled off a couple of good saves, gene...

So, some very reliable sources are finally starting to say that a loan deal for Billy Sharp is close to done. One even saying that he'll be in our XI to face Derby tomorrow at Pride Park. Sharp played under Adkins at Southampton, and they just missed each other in their Scunthorpe days. Obviously many Reading fans have been calling out for a striker and it's no secret that Southampton are willing to let the 27-year-old go to whichever club is willing to pay his wages. For a team that hasn't scored from open play in over a month since the three-all draw against Watford you would think that a striker who has a record of a goal almost every other game would be invaluable. With a strike force of Pogrebnyak, Adam Le Fondre and Billy Sharp I think most Reading fans will be thrilled. Especially if the big Russian can find the net on a consistent basis this year. Also, Chris Baird to the club was confirmed earlier on twitter. He's joined us until January.

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...