Match Report: 2011/2012 Season
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21 January 2012: CHAMPIONSHIP
READING 0 HULL CITY 1
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goals
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Reading: -
Hull City: Brady (66). |
Half Time: 0-0. Attendance: 17,556
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teams
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Reading: A Federici, I Harte, K Gorkss, A Pearce, S Cummings, J Tabb, J Karacan, H Robson-Kanu, M Antonio, N Hunt, S Church (A Le Fondre, 68).
Subs not used: M Andersen, L D'Ath, B Gunnarsson, J Mills. Hull City: V Mannone, L Rosenior (J King, 86), J Hobbs, A Dawson, J Chester, R Koren, P McKenna, C Evans, C Stewart (M Fryatt, 62), A McLean, R Brady (J Dudgeon, 81). Subs not used: L Cooper, T Carson. |
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bookings
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Reading: Hunt.
Hull City: Dawson. Ref: Graham Scott. |
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report
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'Onwards and upwards!' Well not exactly. In spite of the stirring pre-match speech from Sir John and promises of a brighter future the Royals slipped out of the play-off places following a mediocre performance against equally mediocre play-off hopefuls Hull. Reading's form of late has not been good and for the second successive home game they failed to find the net in spite of dominating possession. Reading were clearly weakened by the absence of Leigertwood, McAnuff and Kebe. Karacan was busy in midfield as always, but without Leigertwood to hold the ball and control the game, play tended to be scrappy in midfield . Reading were generally too hasty in their distribution and passes were frequently over-hit. Hull took all three points as Reading became victims of the interpretation of the offside law. As the Reading back four stood bemused McLean chased a through ball from an obvious offside position and then stood aside as Brady raced through to score. It goes without saying it is always unwise to stop defending until the whistle is blown.
The first half was mainly one-way traffic as Reading pestered the City defence without testing an extremely dodgy 'keeper who seemed unable to catch anything dropping into the goal area. Antonio used his pace and strength to burrow his way behind the City defence but his delivery into the box was poor apart from one early cross which Church glanced wide. Harte whipped in some good crosses from both sides of the pitch from free kicks but there was no-one there to apply the finish. Federici tipped over a dipping free kick from Brady following a rare City attack. Rosenior was given a lot of stick by the home fans which probably resulted in one of his better performances, but I certainly would not want to see him back in a Reading shirt. As often happens when you fail to score when you are on top, the opposition score, and that is exactly what happened on sixty-six minutes. Long protests followed the goal but the consensus after the game was that the scorer was on-side. Nevertheless it was far more than City deserved. They did pass the ball better in the second half but they had to thankful for Reading's inability to create chances for their victory. Reading's main threat seemed to be from free kicks when Gorkks and Pearce were present in the City box. A draw would have been a fair result but neither side were showing promotion potential today. In recent years Dolye and Long have provided the pace, and strength to unsettle defences. Le Fondre is the best finisher by far, but he needs to play alongside someone who can offer a physical presence to compete with central defenders. Church is never going to be that player. There is also work to be on technique. Both Church and Antonio were let down by a poor first touch at times today. It remains to be seen if the new cash which is likely to become available will make a difference. Brian McDermott's post match interview gave little away but it certainly reflected my slight feeling of apprehension about the next few months. John Wells |
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