Hob Nob Anyone? - The Fans' View of Reading Football Club

Reading FC Match Report: 2014/2015 Season - FA Cup


HUDDERSFIELD 0 READING 1

Reading: N Blackman (69)
Huddersfield: --

Reading recorded two consecutive victories for the first time since September 2014 as a second half Nick Blackman goal was enough to secure a 1-0 victory at Huddersfield in the third round of the FA Cup. Steve Clarke made it clear he was keen on progressing in the cup this season as he fielded a strong side making limited changes to the side that had secured a 2-1 win over Norwich in the league the week before.

Andersen was tried out in goal in place of Adam Federici but the home side failed to test him as they recorded exactly zero attempts on target in the entire game. The closest Huddersfield came was a header that flew safely over Andersen's crossbar. Mackie and Guthrie were also given starts as Clarke slightly shuffled the side around. Mackie was replaced by Blackman at the break after Clarke replaced him for safety reasons with the player on a yellow card. Dominic Samuel made only his second appearance in a Reading shirt, and his first since his debut in December 2012, as he played the last thirteen minutes of the match coming on for Danny Guthrie.

The game was always expected to be low-key, and so it proved, as a scrappy game between two sides in the bottom half of the Championship failed to create many moments of excitement. Nick Blackman's goal came in the 69th minute after Hal Robson-Kanu supplied the pass that saw Blackman finish with a low effort into the side of the net. It was the only short on target in the entire match. Huddersfield finished the game with ten men after a late sending off but both sides seemed content to play out an uneventful fixture.

Post Match Fans' Opinion

First half was dire to the point of farce, summed up by a terrible free kick at the end which was our only shot up to that point...

The defence coped with everything they could throw at us, which wasn't a lot. Seemed to have problems clearing our lines, though. Samuel coming on at the end seemed to help as it prevented them from being able to build up from the back, he was running around like a mad man and it nearly ended up putting him through 1 on 1 with the keeper.

Apart from that, not really much to report on, the goal was a good move with a decent (if rather easy) finish. The red card incident was handbags at dawn, Not sure how Williams deserved a yellow but the ref was shocking in general.
Niko

An absolutely dreadful game in which we were probably he better of the two. The atmosphere on the moon above the opposite stand was better than that at the ground. Mind you Huddersfield had bugger all to lift the crowd. Anderson had sweet FA to do. Having said that their keeper was pretty redundant as well.

The referee didn't help the flow of the game. The Huddersfield players spent more time feigning injury than they did playing and the ref fell for it. He also appeared to have it in for Mackie and I am sure he was itching to brandish a red card in his direction until substituted.
Royality creeps In

Quotes From The Press

Nick Blackman's goal gave Reading a narrow win over their Championship counterparts Huddersfield in a tie low on quality in the FA Cup third round. After a scrappy first half James Vaughan spurned the game's best chance, heading over at the back post from Jack Robinson's cross from the left byeline.

Blackman finished low into the corner after Hal Robson-Kanu's pass with the game's only shot on target.

Reading manager Steve Clarke:
"The referee made such a dramatic scene with Mackie. He intimated that the next foul and Mackie would be off. I thought that was very harsh. The referee put himself under pressure from then on and I wasn't prepared to take the risk. Rather than leave the decision to the referee I took Mackie off. Nick is a good finisher and I had every confidence he would score. It was a very good away performance but not a classic game. I told the players at half-time the best way to enjoy a poor game is to win it."
BBC Sport

Match Stats

Full Time: 0-1
Half Time: 0-0
Attendance: 7980
Referee: P Gibbs

 Hob Nob Anyone? MOM: O Norwood [More]

Teams

Reading: M Andersen, J Obita, M Hector, C Gunter, A Pearce, D Guthrie (D Samuel, 77), D Williams, O Norwood, H Robson-Kanu, J Mackie (N Blackman, 45), S Cox (J Cooper, 89).
Subs not used: A Federici, S Cummings, J Karacan, S Kelly.

Huddersfield: A Smithies, M Hudson, M Wallace (A Gerrard, 45), T Smith (J Lolley, 86), J Robinson, H Bunn, J Hogg, C Coady, A Hammill (S Scannell, 66), N Wells, J Vaughan.
Subs not used: D Ward, L Peltier, O Gobern, J Butterfield, L Allinson.

Bookings / Red Cards

Reading: D Williams, H Robson-Kanu, J Mackie
Huddersfield: M Hudson, T Smith
Sent Off: J Hogg (90 mins).

This FA Cup game took place 3610 days ago in the 2014/2015 season.