I thought they actually looked more dangerous once they were down to 10.

Why doesnt the ref play advantage after the handball and award the goal, and then come back and penalise the original offence (handball) with the card? That can happen in open play regardless of whether a goal happens or not.

Speaking of the ref - how the oxf*rd can he award a free kick off offside (to be taken) in your own half. Twice.

New rule says the freekick is awarded where the ball is touched, not from where the player was originally offside. Ref was right, just one of the first ones I've seen enforce this new ruling.

Good result, although not the best performance - as you say could have gone either way.

Liam Moore is class. Liam Kelly puts in 110% - never gives up, harries his opponents and often comes off better despite his diminutive size. Not the best game for Ali. Wasnt sure if McShane would make it to the end of the game - looked like he was grabbing his bandaged arm a lot.

There was talk in he stands that there has been a change in the law. Can anyone confirm?

Another random thought. Norwich have a great squad of players, but the one player who always does well against us is Hoolahan, yet Neil doesn't start him. IMHO he deserves to be sacked - not starting their best player.

Enjoying this false position.

Weren't at our best today against a side that worked us out tactically 1st half. But once again we grinded out another win and a team that can do that when not playing at their best is huge.

Liam Moore is a class above 99% of other championship centre backs I've seen this season. Just oozes pure class.

Great to have Swift & Williams back, but Liam Kelly I thought had another good game today, hopefully this is his year he cements his place in the squad.

New rule says the freekick is awarded where the ball is touched, not from where the player was originally offside. Ref was right, just one of the first ones I've seen enforce this new ruling.



Covered in FAQ3. Logically it makes sense since the freekick is where the offence takes place - which is when the player becomes active / plays ball / interferes with play.

I'm still scratching my head as to why Neil took off Oliviera. He was causing us serious problems.

Great Decision

Despite the missed penalty Kermorgant was MOTM in my opinion. That little header across to Kelly today was magnificent.

Harriot's goal was a beaut. Absolute thunderbolt.

I love the fact that when any team has a shot against us there are 3 or 4 Reading players diving to get a block in. The passion Stam has enstalled is excellent.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm enjoying being a Reading fan right now. I'm excited for the next game, which isn't something I would have said this time last year.

I thought they actually looked more dangerous once they were down to 10.

Why doesnt the ref play advantage after the handball and award the goal, and then come back and penalise the original offence (handball) with the card? That can happen in open play regardless of whether a goal happens or not.

Used to be a rule that red card = no advantage played but they changed it a little while ago to say that he can now play advantage and go back and send the player off if there will be a goal scored from playing the advantage or summat. It basically only happens if the red card offence occurs as the ball is going into the goal, otherwise you are asking the ref to second guess how likely a goal being scored is.

I thought they actually looked more dangerous once they were down to 10.

Why doesnt the ref play advantage after the handball and award the goal, and then come back and penalise the original offence (handball) with the card? That can happen in open play regardless of whether a goal happens or not.

Used to be a rule that red card = no advantage played but they changed it a little while ago to say that he can now play advantage and go back and send the player off if there will be a goal scored from playing the advantage or summat. It basically only happens if the red card offence occurs as the ball is going into the goal, otherwise you are asking the ref to second guess how likely a goal being scored is.

So a deliberate handball (a la Suarez against Ghana in 2010 WC) would now be goal + red card? Sort of like a penalty try in Rugby?

Used to be a rule that red card = no advantage played but they changed it a little while ago to say that he can now play advantage and go back and send the player off if there will be a goal scored from playing the advantage or summat. It basically only happens if the red card offence occurs as the ball is going into the goal, otherwise you are asking the ref to second guess how likely a goal being scored is.

So a deliberate handball (a la Suarez against Ghana in 2010 WC) would now be goal + red card? Sort of like a penalty try in Rugby?

No. The ball didn't go in the goal when Suarez handballed didn't it? I thought he 'saved' it on the line.

If a player was hacked down with a red card offence after he kicked the ball towards an open net then the ref can now wait until the ball rolls in, play advantage in awarding the goal and the dish out a red card.

Aside from that is is pretty much as you were and red card offense = no advantage allowed to be played

Terrible decision making by the ref. If we didn't score from the penalty there would have been a meltdown about the disallowed goal

Harriott's goal was a thing of beauty. Is he normally a winger or a striker?

Wasn't convinced by the performance but I'll take the 3 points.
We were sluggish at the start of both halves.
Thought Moore, Blackett & McShane played well. Gunter has a poor game by his standards losing the ball cheaply a couple of times. Seemed better second half.
AAH - good saves when needed, distribution not great.
Joey still looks a bit off the pace. Thought he got the ball when he got booked but I've seen other suggestions that he was lucky with a yellow so I may have been mistaken. Struggled as the game progressed.
Kelly - good game, got stuck in, excellent delivery for first.
Williams - his run in 1st half (when took on about 3 players, should have passed, then got fouled) seemed to spark the team into life. Overall an OK performance.
Beerens - couple of decent moments. Drifts in & out of the game too much for my liking but you could say that about most wingers
McCleary - great follow up for his goal risking having his head taken off by Kermorgant's attempted bicycle kick
Kermorgant - great header for goal, lovely lay off for Kelly

Good to see Swift back.
Looked better with Evans on.
Harriott - WHAT A STRIKE!!!!

Enjoyed that today.

First half was a pretty even affair, we restricted them to long range efforts and we took our chance well. Still need to move the ball quicker for me. Gunter and McCleary were in so much room sometimes we just don't switch the play quickly enough. That might change now with Swift coming back into the team.

2nd half was a good half of football, both teams going for it, Norwich goal was inevitable. They put us under a lot of pressure and it was only a matter of time before we cracked. Credit to the boys today though, they didn't panic and regrouped and got back ahead. Yann, come on mate, jeez, McCleary got you out of that one.

Cracking goal from Harriott, think he could be a very decent acquisition. I have seen him score 3 excellent goals now and he has some pace about him. Swift little nutmeg pass to him as well

Williams adds something no one else in the team can, he picks the ball up and actually drives forward with it. Kelly very good as well, impressed with the little guy, cracking free-kick for Yann's goal. Moore is just different class, he will be the next Reading captain, I have no doubt about that.

Only issue I had, I would've made the JvdB - Evans sub earlier as I think we are more balanced with him in the side and he picks the ball up well from the defence.

AAH - 7 - Made some good saves, distribution got better in the second half (threw it out more), no chance with the goal. But some iffy moments, but thats what you get with AAH so I have grown to live with that

Gunter - 7 - Pretty solid. Let Oliveria get away from him once in the 2nd half, but it came to nothing. Made himself available for switch passes throughout the 1st half but didn't get anything.
McShane - 7 - Solid enough, one great takedown from the air. Great partnership with Moore.
Moore - 9 - The rock. 'Nuff said.
Blackett - 7 - Probably his best game at LB. Still prefer him being in a back 3 though.

Williams - 7 - Gives you something different, drives with the ball. Good to see him back.
JvdB - 6 - Some sublime and some dross. Too slow on the ball when under pressure.
Kelly - 8 - Good on the ball, good vision. Great free-kick for Yann's goal. Shame his chance didn't quite sit down for him, would've been a stunning goal to end a stunning team move.

Beerens - 6 - Unsure what to make of him, looks dangerous for parts of the game, but then goes missing for long parts. I like him and want him to succeed because I think he can be a difference maker. Can't defend mind.
Yann - 8 - Good header for the opening goal. Wins everything in the air with ease. Penalty..... I just hope he got McCleary a nice Christmas present, that or he owes him a oxf*rd big one!
McCleary - 8 - Grew into the game. Looked more threatening in the second half. Great header and great reactions for the rebound. Should've done better with a pull-back cross when Yann was steaming into the box.

Evans - Calmed things down, becoming a vital member of the team, would expect him to start v Fulham after a little rest.
Swift - Oozes class. Unsure whether to start him v Fulham as Kelly had such a good game
Harriott - Great finish, good option to have on the bench to come on and run at the oppo.

Onto Fulham and hopefully another 3 points. Will be a tricky game though.

I just can't help feeling we are going to hit the wall , and go on a bad run-today was not the day however.
Shocked at how poor Norwich were-however they had a good spell 2nd half , when for ten minutes we were absolute pants-then shot on goal, pen and player sent off and we were on the money.

Habsi 6: Saw the worst of him today-one awful clearance, and put his defenders under pressure with his passes out .Just about got away with it.

Gunter 6: Usual mix of very good and very uninspiiring.
Blackett 7: Solid throughout
Moore 7: Not at his absolute best.
Mc Shane 7: took a bit of a clattering today-but stood up to it.
Joey 6: Probably should have been sent off-some nice passes, but then ran out of steam when Norwich put their foot down.
Kelly 7: If only he was a bit taller-loads of energy and nous.
Williams 6: Not one of his better games, kept on being caught in possession
Beerens 6: Lazy and a wus, but when he is on the attack, a real handful.
Kermit 8: MOM-did everything, a great team man
Macca 7: Blew hot and cold

Swifty: Looks very rusty, as you would expect, but nice nutmeg.
Harriot: Great goal; one of the best this season.
Evans: Nice and calm

Ref: Fairly average-was it really a howler 2nd half on the offside in our own half-or did he see handball ?

We move on-crunch game Friday, if we are to keep on going.

"Again a game that could have gone wither way"

But it didn't, and we won, again, and having played everyone now at least once, we are where we are on merit.

Thought Norwich's all round play shaded the first half with both teams devoid of much quality but we had a couple of good spells at the start and after 35 minutes or so which the latter, bouyed on by the crowd, saw us get the opener.

After that we were always favourite to pick up the 3 points though credit to Norwich who at times didn't look like a man down.

Half way stage and 3rd. Happy days.

Decent enough viewing, no real stand-outs but Kermies workrate impressed, as did CH's goal.
Wouldn't want to be Alex Neill right now, his fans that adored him a couple of years ago being very vocal in their opinion of him today.
Second half minutes' applause nicely observed by all four sides of the ground.

Really? If so it would simply show how silly some people are. He'd already blown his whistle so it wasn't a 'disallowed' goal, it wasn't even a goal. You can't score when the ball is not in play.

This^

You can't disallow a goal that was never allowed in the first place.

Ultimately, did it really matter anyway

Really? If so it would simply show how silly some people are. He'd already blown his whistle so it wasn't a 'disallowed' goal, it wasn't even a goal. You can't score when the ball is not in play.
Not seen any TV replays, but was sat just to the right of the goal, third row back, and it looked to me that the ball had originally crossed the line before the handball.

It hadn't.

Well a drab game became pretty exciting!! Thought Norwich totally nullified us first half, marking us man to man making for a dire watch. Nicked a goal (Kelly's deliveries are excellent) and made some terrific blocks at the end of the half to go in 1-0 up. Norwich came into the game second half and grabbed a deserved equaliser. Kelly's delivery for the corner turned the game, class ball in and excellent header by Kermogant leading to the sending off. Obviously had a La Liga moment trying to chip down the middle, thankfully McCleary loves a pen rebound and we hold out. What a finish from Harriott and loved the celebration!

A few points

Joey's tackle- from where I was, a nailed on red. He lunged in completely unnecessarily- reckless and he was lucky the ref wanted to let things go today. Another day and that would have potentially cost us the game. No need to go in like that in a nothing area of the pitch. Joey you're a legend but KEEP YOUR HEAD ON

Al Habsi- a great shot stopper and fan favourite but he has to work on his distribution.

Alex Neil- think he is gone. When your away fans are calling for you to be sacked in the morning, you've got problems. Bizarre substitutions though, thought Oliveira and Naismith were both having good games.

The ref- thought he was very good particularly considering I thought his only howlers were the off side free kicks taken in our half!! He let things go (e.g. Joey) and it resulted in very little whining and whinging/ looking for free kicks from both sides.

Another win, albeit a little flattering but we are looking more and more assured. Players coming back from injury at the right time too. Things are looking good.