by Hoop Blah »
29 Mar 2010 09:48
That was a really enjoyable game of football and a throw back to how it used to be, loved every minute of it.
Although it was a great performance and I think everyone played their part we again showed how much we miss a centre forward who can be that little bit more clinical at the business end of things. Even our goal came from a couple of misses/decent saves by the keeper. Church missed another one-on-one just like he did in the cup too, and if we want to complete at the right end of the table next season this still needs addressing in the summer (I don't think we can count on Kebe reproducing the kind of goalscoring form he's been on for longer periods next season).
As a few others have said, we tired quite a bit in the second half, which although isn't surprising considering our recent run of games as the quality of opposition, but we didn't do a lot to counter it. Howard had an excellent first half, but again didn't really get into the game after the break and I though it was crying out for Karacan to add some extra legs.
Their goal, shocking with lack of foul throw decision, but just as bad was the lack of freekick for the climbing all over Gunnarsson when he challenged for the header from the corner. That was blatent and right in front of the ref too. However, I love McDermotts attitude to the decisions, and at the end of the say we didn't defend the corner anywhere near well enough. 3 on 1 at the back post for the header, and then if that wasn't bad enough they somehow still got to the knockdown without a Reading player challenging.
Despite those negatives, it was a great performance and the likes of Mills, Khizanishvili, Sigurdsson and Bertrand (he defended so much better) were outstanding.