24 January 2015
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading FC forgot their Championship woes and secured a place in the FA Cup 5th round with a resurgent second half display at the Cardiff City Stadium. It was substitute Hal Robson-Kanu's late winner that separated the teams. A cool lob finish to answer his critics.
Steve Clarke made two changes to the team that suffered an unlucky defeat at Fulham the week previous. Blackman replacing Hal Robson-Kanu and Nathanial Chalobah making his debut in centre midfield in place of Simon Cox.
During the first half Reading struggled to make an impression on the game... Cardiff took the lead in the 23rd minute as the Royals switched off from a corner. Whittingham sent an out swinging corner to the near post as Micheal Hector failed to track a Kenwyne Jones run. The corner drifted over the flat footed Chalobah allowing Jones power a header into the net. The goal failed to inspire a reaction from Reading.
The second half start was encouraging. Reading appeared to push further up the pitch as a unit. It enabled the midfield three to pick the ball up in more dangerous areas. This was evident in the 47th minute as Norwood picked the ball up just outside the area, his shot was deflected and looping towards the net. The keeper back tracking managing to push the ball for a corner.
As Reading started to press higher up the pitch, support Pogrebnyak and get players into wider areas the Royals started to control the game. A goal now felt imminent and it came in the 64th minute. Hard working Pogrebnyak forced a foul within range of the Cardiff goal. Obita and Norwood lined up behind the ball. The Cardiff keeper shift left before the ball was struck enabled Norwood to place a low shot past the wall into the bottom corner. His celebration indicating he owed that goal to Steve Clarke.
Hal Robson-Kanu replaced Nick Blackman in the 82nd minute. He almost found the net from a Norwood / Obita short corner in the 85th minute. Flicking a header towards goal that brought a good save from Moore. Where Steve Clarke's Reading push for the win at Fulham had spectacularly failed, it was rewarded at Cardiff. His drive to push for a win is applauded. In the 85th minute Obita lifted a fine ball towards the space around the penalty spot. Hal Robson-Kanu ran across his marker hungry to meet the cross. His guided lob was sublime and it drifted over the Cardiff goalkeeper and brought the 2000 traveling fans to their feet. The goal and result was fully deserved on a much improved second half performance. It will send the team in with much needed confidence to a must win clash with Millwall on Tuesday night.
The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup is live on BBC One at 7:20pm on Monday 26 January 2015.
Read Dave's full match report:
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