News and Views
Royals Climb Table With Dramatic Late Win
09 March 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?
The course of a game, or even a season, can often hinge on a single moment, and in the sixty-ninth minute of this dramatic home win for Reading, we witnessed one of those moments. An astonishing save from Martinez prevented Powell from scoring from close range when the Wigan forward met a perfect low cross from Massey. Had he converted the chance it would have given Wigan a two goal lead and put the result beyond doubt. Having been guilty of careless distribution which led to Wigan's second goal, Martinez made amends with his outstanding save which arguably gave a Reading a lift, at a crucial point in the game sparking a revival which turned the game in their favour. Whether or not that was the case we can't be sure, but it certainly kept Reading in the game.
Encouraged by some extremely weak refereeing by Andy Davies, Wigan attempted to bully Reading, disrupt play, and waste time at every opportunity but ultimately justice was served in a fitting manner. With a couple of minutes of normal time remaining Reece James went down and lay motionless as if suffering a serious head injury. Judging by the way he miraculously 'recovered' so quickly his reaction was somewhat exaggerated. His intention was clearly to run down the clock. The fact that it also halted a promising attack for Reading was, from Wigan's point of view, a bonus. It backfired horribly for them when, from the resulting drop ball, Barrow received the ball some thirty yards out and drilled a magnificent equaliser past Jones. Reading now had the upper hand and in the seventh minute of stoppage time (mainly accumulated through Wigan's time wasting) Meite headed home powerfully from a corner to complete an exhilarating comeback. The Madjeski Stadium was in a state of euphoria the like of which had not been experienced for very long time. Jose Gomes and Meite were booked for their celebrations, but I don't think anyone cared at that point.
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