Back from the Game - Villa

[Terminal Boardom]

Gutted but immensely proud. The difference in the second half was that Villa closed us down at every opportunity and moved the ball far better. End of!

[Royalee]

Excellent first half, we let ourselves down by totally switching off for 15 minutes at the beginning of the second half. Well done lads, good cup run, now we can focus on the most important thing which is the league and staying up.

[BenReadingFC]

Your video shows Church clearly push him in the back, Warnocks throws himself a tiny bit, but Church still clearly pushes him.

Warnock clearly throws himself on the deck gaining the freekick. I must be blind as there is clearly no push, maybe contact but no push. He felt a hand touch his back and dived theatrically.

[koran]

Still - even if we had won we'd be playing Chelsea in the semis!!

[Jerry St Clair]

Your video shows Church clearly push him in the back, Warnocks throws himself a tiny bit, but Church still clearly pushes him.

Warnock clearly throws himself on the deck gaining the freekick. I must be blind as there is clearly no push, maybe contact but no push. He felt a hand touch his back and dived theatrically.

Balls. I was about 20 yards to the right of you, and it was a clear push from Church. No way was it a dive.

[Allyh84]

I don't think we disgraced ourselves today, Villa are easily good enough for top 4. They were always gonna find another gear. I was on cloud 9 at 2-0.

How bad was Griffin in the last 30 minutes as well!?! Kebe also, he shows one or two touches of class but then looks like he can't be assed. He moves slower than a stationary car at times.

[Jerry St Clair]

Two LOLOS tho, the two Villa fans who came on to celebrate, one sensibly went straight back into the stand and no action taken, the second stood almost mesmerised and when approached by 3 tango's threw a punch, whata siily boy.

Yet both still had plenty of time to run on the pitch, cuddle the players, have a cup of tea, take in the surroundings and saunter back into the South Stand before the tangos appeared.

Gr8 stewarding priorities, as usual.

[FiNeRaIn]

Told you villa fans would be a bunch of muppets. Fairweather as well, no noise.

Hope chelsea pump them in the semi.

[Ark Royal]

Gutted but immensely proud. The difference in the second half was that Villa closed us down at every opportunity and moved the ball far better. End of!

Totally agree. Villa pressed us right from the start of the second half and upped the tempo noticeably. Carew, Heskey, Milner and Young never gave us the time to get on the ball at the back and play. Kebe and Sigs had the supply lines totally cut off, which left Long and Church totally isolated..

Impressed with Villa second half. They obviously responded to what must have been a right old bollocking from O'Neill at half time.

When Carew is on form, he is unplayable. Fantastic touch for a big fella. Heskey just reinforced what I already knew: a lumbering lump who could not finish a packet of crisps.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Wow! What a horror that turned out to be

I had decided pre match to get absolutely hammered to make sure that whatever happens I'll be fairly happy. It didnt work out that way. I remember chatting to a lad in the concourse about our stunning first half. As the second half kicked off I was saying how weel we'd been playing, and when I'd finished my sentece it was 2-1.

Absolutely gutted here, genuinely. Not sure how long it will take me to get over this, I just hope the players can get a win on Wednesday! I very proud, but gutted Royal here.

[blue_army1871]

Gutted, but we can hold our heads high.

Federici - 6 - haven't seen the goals, but thought his positioning looked questionable at times

Griffin - 7 - quiet first half, decent second half
Betrand - 7 - excellent first half, may be at fault for first goal
Mills - 8 - fanstastic centre back
Ingimarrsson - 7 - too slow, looked dangerous from set pieces though

Kebe - 7 - did well for second goal
Sigurdsson - 7 - quiet, but steady
Tabb - 8 - excellent work rate
Howard - 6 - very quiet

Long - 8 - 2 very well taken goals
Church - 7 - chased around a lot, with no real reward

Gunnarrsson - 6 - not much impact
Rasiak - 7 - good few touches, could have scored

[Alan Partridge]

Well that was a shame.

Really enjoyable game of cup football, first half was superb, think Villa thought they could just turn up and walk a win, they were battered in the first half. The 2nd goal on the break was a goal right out of the 2005/6 season scrapbook.

I jokingly muttered we'll probably lose 4-2 now at half time, deep down I honestly thought Reading had done it. Whilst villa were obviously going to be better and have a go, I couldn't see us allowing them in nor could i see them turning it around to the extent where we'd be in trouble. See 15mins off the clock, 2-0 up still their heads would have gone and that would be that. What happens? Our overrated left back shanks a routine ball back to their winger, he makes no mistake with the delivery 2nd time round and bang 2-1 less than 2minutes of the 2nd half gone. It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened. You could almost see the confidence just completely go from all the Reading players as they trudged back to the half way line. No sense of well it's still 2-1, more a case of just waiting for the inveitable. Didn't take too long.

Good play, good cross, free header for the biggest bloke on the pitch. Start the car.

The 3rd was a lovely move, then Reading actually started to play again. Penalty I felt was the right decision was the final nail, game had gone anyway.

Real shame because I don't think Reading will get another chance like today for a VERY long time but having said that just getting to this point was a great achievement. It's galvanised the club again, the league form has been good, Reading have enough in the squad now to finish safely in the CCC and we've all had fun on this cup journey.

Was an excellent game of football today and despite the result a thoroughbly enjoyable day. Good luck to Villa now I hope they go on and win it.

[Allyh84]

Federici 6

Bertrand 7
Mills 6
Ivar 5
Griffin 6

Kebe 6
Howard 6
Tabb 7
Sigurdsson 7

Long 8
Church 7

Subs:

Rasiak 5
Gunarsson 6

[brendywendy]

how can you give mills a 6, and berti a 7?

agree with ivar- he looked like he had a very difficult day from start to finish

not sure kebe deserves less than sig in any way, unless you just hate kebe

[floyd__streete]

Bertrand 7
Mills 6
Ivar 5
Griffin 6

So Bertrand was the pick of our defence then was he ? Righty-o

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Told you villa fans would be a bunch of muppets. Fairweather as well, no noise.

.

Villa fans struck me as the most insufferable big-time charlies when we were in the premier, so no surprise that they lived up to the billing today.

[Chaney]

this from someone posting on 606, hard to disagree,

Arsenal fan here, wanting to thank Reading and Villa for an absolutely cracking game, you both played magnificently and provided one of the best FA cup games ive seen in years.

If anything can restore the faded glory of the FA cup then games like this should. Good luck to Villa-i really hope you win it!

[PEARCEY]

Very proud but equally downcast.
I thought we rode our luck first-half with Bertrand really struggling against Young before he switched wings. We have got to be less naive and stop allowing so many crosses into our penalty box. In the second-half when Villa pulled one back we needed to copy them and break up their rythym with a few fouls. Cynical I know but we needed to slow the game down at that time and regroup.
Kebe was fantastic in the first-half but was crucially starved of the ball in the first 15 in the second period and lost confidence after that.
For me Shane Long just edged Jay Tabb for MoTM. I thought the Villa central defenders really struggled to cope with them.
Even so we did enough to earn a draw and 4-2 was very harsh on us.
Great atmosphere at the game but why are we so quiet before the game starts?
As I was walking back to the car-park I spoke with a Villa fan who said it was a great game and he was very relieved they had got through.
Well done Villa. I thought they played with a lot of width. Ashley Young was superb.
Hope they beat Chelsea.
As for us we will bounce back from this and I feel positive about the future.
Cheer up everyone we should all feel proud tonight.

[shaka's shorts]

Afed 6
Griffin 7
Bert 6
Mills 8
Ingi 7

Kebe 8
Howard 6
Tabb 9
Sig 7
Church 6

Long 8

[Greatwesternline]

At the time i wasn't too upset about it, really enjoyed the first half, felt I had an enjoyable afternoon, now I feel gutted as a result of reading HobNob, makes me realise how big it actually was and makes me think about it more, maybe i'd be a happier person if i didnt read this site as often....