MATCHWATCH : Crawley Town (h)

[Hound]

Did mention this in my post earlier. We regularly out foul our opponents - I think we probably are quite a ‘dirty’ side but it does feel on days like today that the ref is coming prepared to pick up every small foul we do, whilst letting them do much the same without punishment. But maybe that’s just natural bias on my part

I don't think we're too dirty. I do think that other teams are better at "managing" the ref than we are.

Yeah. We are team full of kids who haven’t yet learnt that part of the game

Yeah could be. Agree we don’t influence the ref well

[WestYorksRoyal]

Credit to Crawley, they were much better than the score line suggested. I cannot see how they haven't won in 8 games.

It will still be a moral boosting win for us and keeps up the atmosphere here!

Glad the flag it getting routinely walked around the stadium now too. Gotta help Reuben want to stay!!

They missed chances. Our 1st and 3rd goals were both soft from their perspective. They have conceded 9 goals in 2 games against sides in the bottom half. That's why they're near the bottom.

[Millsy]

Credit to Crawley, they were much better than the score line suggested. I cannot see how they haven't won in 8 games.

It will still be a moral boosting win for us and keeps up the atmosphere here!

Glad the flag it getting routinely walked around the stadium now too. Gotta help Reuben want to stay!!

Agreed, they played alright but we had some top class saves and clearances on the line. Better team won though of course.

[morganb]

Did mention this in my post earlier. We regularly out foul our opponents - I think we probably are quite a ‘dirty’ side but it does feel on days like today that the ref is coming prepared to pick up every small foul we do, whilst letting them do much the same without punishment. But maybe that’s just natural bias on my part

I don't think we're too dirty. I do think that other teams are better at "managing" the ref than we are.

Yeah. We are team full of kids who haven’t yet learnt that part of the game

Part of the problem is when we get fouled we often try to stay on our feet whereas opponents go down like they've been shot

[stealthpapes]

It's a common feature of this season and last - 50:50 stuff routinely does not break in our favour.

[Snowflake Royal]

It's a common feature of this season and last - 50:50 stuff routinely does not break in our favour.

I think it's the nature of the young side. They play against people with years of experience of hiding shoves and pulls or going in just hard enough at the right time to jostle your control. They're slightly less physically developed so it affects them more. They go in slightly harder to achieve the same thing in reverse because of it and so are a bit more obvious.

We've got so much better at doing the dark side. The holding and nudging and tactical fouling than in recent years, but we're not as good at hiding it.

We press hard so we're always snapping at heels. It wins us a lot of turnovers, but also gives away a lot of freekicks. Smith is a busy little shithouse up front being disruptive. Knibbs is always trying to steal it. Savage, Mbengue and Yiadom pull out of almost nothing.

And Smith in particular, but also Knibbs, Kelvin and Elliott all go over pretty easy, looking for it at times. Especially if they're touch is heavy and gets away from them.

[Gunny Fishcake]

Think the " Dunkirk spirit" with the team is becoming a great asset for us , yes we were outplayed for sections of the game yesterday but we dug in there for a fine victory.

Mbengue typifies that spirit and is a wonderful player for us exemplified by the amazing clearance of the line.

Not many who were there will ever see a strike and goal as sweet as Wings stunning goal .

Great atmosphere with so many kids in the ground and I thought it was a lovely touch when the youngster announced the goal scorers on the PA.

[PlasticRoyal]

They were really off it yesterday, was it the boggy ground and the ball not moving around as expected?

Most concerning aspect from me was we gave crawley so much time and space around the edge of the box, and they found the through-balls with such ease. But worse than that, when they did find a little through ball our boys just sort of cantered around like it was someone elses problem to fix.

[The Cap]

Think the " Dunkirk spirit" with the team is becoming a great asset for us , yes we were outplayed for sections of the game yesterday but we dug in there for a fine victory.

Mbengue typifies that spirit and is a wonderful player for us exemplified by the amazing clearance of the line.

Not many who were there will ever see a strike and goal as sweet as Wings stunning goal .

Great atmosphere with so many kids in the ground and I thought it was a lovely touch when the youngster announced the goal scorers on the PA.

Good post Gunny. And your reference to the 'Dunkirk spirit' is spot on.

[From Despair To Where?]

Credit to Crawley, they were much better than the score line suggested. I cannot see how they haven't won in 8 games.

It will still be a moral boosting win for us and keeps up the atmosphere here!

Glad the flag it getting routinely walked around the stadium now too. Gotta help Reuben want to stay!!

They missed chances. Our 1st and 3rd goals were both soft from their perspective. They have conceded 9 goals in 2 games against sides in the bottom half. That's why they're near the bottom.

Reading their forum, yesterday was a tale of their season, play decent football but poor in both boxes.

You look at their chances and, the Button save from the free kick aside, not taking anything away from our players but a better forward would have been more clinical.

[tidus_mi2]

On Twitter I described Crawley as 8/10 attack, 2/10 finishing and defending.

That's why they're in the relegation zone despite battering us for 20-30mins in the 2nd half, no point playing great football if you can't hit a barn door at one end and your defence is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

[Snowflake Royal]

It was certainly an interesting choice giving Lewis 'Screamer' Wing acres of space and hours of time outside their box.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Credit to Crawley, they were much better than the score line suggested. I cannot see how they haven't won in 8 games.

It will still be a moral boosting win for us and keeps up the atmosphere here!

Glad the flag it getting routinely walked around the stadium now too. Gotta help Reuben want to stay!!

They missed chances. Our 1st and 3rd goals were both soft from their perspective. They have conceded 9 goals in 2 games against sides in the bottom half. That's why they're near the bottom.

Reading their forum, yesterday was a tale of their season, play decent football but poor in both boxes.

You look at their chances and, the Button save from the free kick aside, not taking anything away from our players but a better forward would have been more clinical.

It sounds a bit like us at this stage last season. The 4-0 at Charlton stands out as a game where we were arguably the better team for an hour and ended up getting hammered.

It's a better predicament than being outplayed every week.

[South Coast Royal]

It was certainly an interesting choice giving Lewis 'Screamer' Wing acres of space and hours of time outside their box.

Was sat in line behind him and was delighted when nobody challenged him.
Everybody else from both sides when trying anything similar sent the ball wide or way over the bar.

I think Wing is probably the best striker of a ball that I have ever seen for Reading and how he never went on from his Middlesboro days to be at the very least with an upper end Champs side is a bit of a mystery.

Funny old game as posters have said and you can see why Crawley has the worst goal difference in the division and missing their suspended normal centre-back yesterday couldn't have helped.

[Snowflake Royal]

It was certainly an interesting choice giving Lewis 'Screamer' Wing acres of space and hours of time outside their box.

Was sat in line behind him and was delighted when nobody challenged him.
Everybody else from both sides when trying anything similar sent the ball wide or way over the bar.

I think Wing is probably the best striker of a ball that I have ever seen for Reading and how he never went on from his Middlesboro days to be at the very least with an upper end Champs side is a bit of a mystery.

Funny old game as posters have said and you can see why Crawley has the worst goal difference in the division and missing their suspended normal centre-back yesterday couldn't have helped.

I think he probably doesn’t quite have the touch or legs against higher quality sides and better sides won't give him time or space for those screamers.

But maybe he just had a run of clubs where it just didn’t click. So much about football is right place, right time.

[WestYorksRoyal]

It's a huge difference maker at this level to have a player who ping one in from 25 - 30 yards and it's not even a surprise. It's not that surprising when Savage does it either. You don't get many free flowing teams who create chances galore in L1 so it determines games. Certainly a different match yesterday if he doesn't do that, Crawley were on top at 1-1 and it was against the run of play. It was probably the game's defining moment, given Mbengue's clearance was only a stay of execution.

No idea why it hasn't worked out for him at a higher level, but let's just appreciate what an important player he is for us.

[Snowflake Royal]

Best experienced midfielder we've had in years.

Lewis Wing >>>> Hendrick, Bacuna, Loum, Hutchinson, Shitwater, Ejaria...

[stealthpapes]

It was certainly an interesting choice giving Lewis 'Screamer' Wing acres of space and hours of time outside their box.

Was sat in line behind him and was delighted when nobody challenged him.
Everybody else from both sides when trying anything similar sent the ball wide or way over the bar.

I think Wing is probably the best striker of a ball that I have ever seen for Reading and how he never went on from his Middlesboro days to be at the very least with an upper end Champs side is a bit of a mystery.

Funny old game as posters have said and you can see why Crawley has the worst goal difference in the division and missing their suspended normal centre-back yesterday couldn't have helped.

I think he probably doesn’t quite have the touch or legs against higher quality sides and better sides won't give him time or space for those screamers.

But maybe he just had a run of clubs where it just didn’t click. So much about football is right place, right time.

Just had a look at his career. Main thing that stands out that he only went to Middlesboro at 22, his entire development was at a much lower level.

Wing later ended up in the youth system of Darlington until he was released at the age of 14 for "being too small". Wing quit playing football for two years following his release by Darlington, instead he focused on getting his golf handicap down to five.

Other than that, headline stats look pretty solid ever since. Only spell he didn't do well on the scoring front was at Wednesday. Last four years, at Wycombe and now here, he's scored a goal about once every 4-5 games over a number of seasons. Look carefully and you can see an upwards, improving trend.

[stealthpapes]

It's a common feature of this season and last - 50:50 stuff routinely does not break in our favour.

I think it's the nature of the young side. They play against people with years of experience of hiding shoves and pulls or going in just hard enough at the right time to jostle your control. They're slightly less physically developed so it affects them more. They go in slightly harder to achieve the same thing in reverse because of it and so are a bit more obvious.

We've got so much better at doing the dark side. The holding and nudging and tactical fouling than in recent years, but we're not as good at hiding it.

We press hard so we're always snapping at heels. It wins us a lot of turnovers, but also gives away a lot of freekicks. Smith is a busy little shithouse up front being disruptive. Knibbs is always trying to steal it. Savage, Mbengue and Yiadom pull out of almost nothing.

And Smith in particular, but also Knibbs, Kelvin and Elliott all go over pretty easy, looking for it at times. Especially if they're touch is heavy and gets away from them.

Yup, combine some naivity and a high tempo game.

It should improve, right?

[Brogue]

Best experienced midfielder we've had in years.

Lewis Wing >>>> Hendrick, Bacuna, Loum, Hutchinson, Shitwater, Ejaria...

I’d even add swift to that list.