MATCH REPORT: 2007/2008 Season
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1 January 2008: FA PREMIER LEAGUE
READING 0 PORTSMOUTH 2
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goals
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Reading: -
Portsmouth: Campbell (9 mins), Utaka (66 mins). |
Half Time: 0-1 Attendance: 24,084
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teams
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Reading:
Hahnemann, Murty, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Shorey (De la Cruz 71), Hunt, Harper, Cisse, Convey (Bikey 7), Doyle (Long 83), Kitson.
Subs Not Used: Federici, Lita.
Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Utaka, Diop, Hughes (Lauren 83), Muntari, Kranjcar (Taylor 89), Mwaruwari (Kanu 63). Subs Not Used: Begovic, Nugent. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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bookings
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Reading: Murty, Cisse, Bikey. Sent Off: Sonko (3 mins).
Portsmouth: Hughes. Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral). |
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report
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This defeat was very much a self inflicted wound. Ibrahima Sonko and Marcus Hahnemann combined to virtually destroy any hope Reading had of winning this game in the first ten minutes. From the moment Sol Campbell prodded the ball into the net from an offside position in the ninth minute it was clearly not going to be a happy new year for Royals fans. By then Sonko had been sent off, Kranjcar had missed a penalty, and Convey had narrowly missed a good chance to put Reading ahead. Once the madness of the opening minutes had subsided, the game settled into a pattern which appeared to have only one inevitable outcome - a win for Pompey. Reduced to ten men Reading regrouped, replacing Convey with Bikey and left Kitson up front on his own, a challenge he was clearly up for. Portsmouth were certainly not in any hurry to add to their score, and Reading contained the visitors well. Pompey in the main were restricted to passing the ball sideways and backwards in midfield without really threatening to add to their early gifted goal.
The recent defeat at Spurs in spite of a good performance, had not dented the confidence of the team, and Reading fans were right to expect the current run of good form to continue. They were further encouraged when Doyle went past Campbell wide on the left to get his cross over. Two minutes later Sonko found himself on the wrong side of Benjani, and a very square back four, not expecting Reading to lose possession, were caught out by a ball into space behind them. Sonko was beaten for pace and made an inexplicably rash decision to trip the Pompey forward as he closed in on goal. Kranjcar struck his penalty against the post and unlike the crucial goal against Spurs last Saturday, there was were no opposing forwards encroaching in the area and the ball was cleared. This gave everyone a lift and almost immediately Reading had a good chance to take the lead when Doyle, this time wide on the right, went past at least three Pompey defenders before crossing to Convey who hit it wide of the far post. If that had gone in it would have been a very different game. The positive reaction was encouraging but minutes later Hahnemann failed to collect a routine cross and Campbell opened the scoring to further test the character and resilience of the home side. It has to be said the ten men left on the field were a credit to the club and difficult though the task was, gave the impression they believed they could still get something from an apparently lost cause. Doyle almost equalised just before half time after Hunt had made a typically determined run down the right and found him with a ball into the box. His shot beat James but clipped his leg as it went under him and the ball drifted just wide of the far post. Pompey then hit the bar with a Benjani header. The second half continued much as the first with Portsmouth in control without really putting Reading under any real pressure. There were occasions when Portsmouth probed forward but Reading forced them to pass the ball back into their own half to retain possession. Steve Coppell must have been more than satisfied with that aspect of the performance. The game was settled with a simple ball over the top which a fully fit Shorey would have dealt with, but on this occasion Utaka left him for dead and rounded Hahnemann before rolling the ball into the empty net. Shorey wqas immediatly replaced by De La cruz and Reading continued to press for a goal but when Hunt swung and missed a Doyle cross it clearly not going to happen. I expect most of the team playing today will have a well deserved day off on Saturday and can reflect with some pride on their efforts over the Christmas period. I am encouraged by recent form, and from I've seen, although not all the results have gone our way, performances have been good overall. Hahnemann will feel upset about his error today but it was no worse than recent howlers from Petr Cech and the England 'keeper! Sonko is more of a worry at the moment. He has tremendous potential but it is a matter of his capacity to learn from his mistakes which is crucial. Regardless of any activity in the transfer market I have seen enough recently to convince me that Reading can keep out of the bottom three this season. John |
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