Fabulous Reading break away duck in style

Reading looked every inch the class act as they thumped league leaders Wolves by three goals to nil at Molineux. A goalkeeping error gifted the Royals the opening goal after 5 minutes, Bikey headed in from close range to make it two after an hour and Kalifa Cisse applied the coup de grace late on. Reading were fine value for their first away win of the season: they passed the ball well and defended with composure, Ivar leading by example but Liam Rosenior was also superb and is really beginning to look like a quality player. Kebe caused problems all night and both Jem Karacan and Bryn will be giving SC food for thought in midfield, especially with Marek in training again.

What a superb result. We are now just 5 points behind Wolves and trail Bongo FC by 3. Bring on Burnley!!

Irish treble for Royals as Swans are sunk

Four Goals from the Royals' Irish contingent of the Brothers Hunt and Kevin Doyle ensured an easy victory in the autumn sunshine against Swansea City. A dominant first half display saw the Royals coast to a 3-0 lead with some assured and attractive football. It was always going to be tricky to keep the momentum going with the game effectively won, and so it proved to be true as the Welsh side played the better football in the second half, though their only chance of note was a free kick that struck the bar. Noel opened the scoring with a sweet header from a corner, Doyle made it two with a close range effort and Stephen Hunt slotted home the third after good work opened up the Swansea defence once again. Doyle finished well for his second late on after some good interplay through the middle.

So the excellent home form continues, and we must hope that this is the confidence booster we need to improve our fortunes on the road. We'll need to be at our best because we go to Molineux on Tuesday night; Wolves are in outstanding form and although we have moved up to third in the table, we are trailing them by 8 points, and a defeat would make it 11 points. That's a hefty deficit so early on in the season.

Coppell happy to replay Watford game

Steve Coppell has agreed to the idea of a replay of the 'Ghost Goal' match on Saturday. He told the official club website:

If the authorities decide a replay is the correct thing to do then I've got no objections whatsoever.

He went on to say that he felt bad for Watford and wants to make amends. This sounds like common sense and I hope it's looked at seriously as an option by the Football League. Whilst I don't think it's fair that we should be criticised for not doing something else in the heat of the moment on Saturday, I do feel this is as fair a solution as is possible now, and as the controversy grows this would put paid to the crazy notion that the Royals are somehow as culpable as the officials for the whole sorry mess.

That Watford 'goal': should we have 'played fair'?

There has been some suggestion that we should have allowed Watford to score after the travesty of the first Reading goal, to even things up and allow the game to carry on in a spirit of fair play. John Ashdown at The Guardian thinks so, and he opines that by not doing this we have somehow contributed to the pervasive atmosphere within football of poor sportsmanship and a disregard for fair play:

Why should football abandon all ideas of fair play and sportsmanship? It's an abdication of responsibility. That opening goal wrecked the game, giving it a strange otherworldly feel. It's not only the officials who should feel embarrassed about it.

I think he's got it wrong here: the simple fact is that unfortunately football abandoned these principles some time ago. Only in rare individual cases is such sportsmanship shown, and almost always when nothing is at stake. Take for example the sending off of Chris Iwelumo at Preston on Saturday, the defender Sean St. Ledger has supported the Wolves striker in his bid to have the red card rescinded, stating the lack of any intention on Iwelumo's part to injure him, and he believed that it was an accidental collision. Such fair play between professionals is nice to see, but it's unlikely that St. Ledger would have protested vigorously for a penalty against him had he committed a blatant foul that had been overlooked by the referee in the last minute of the game with the scores level (erm, if you see what I mean!). I find it amusing that when the ball is returned to the opposition after someone has 'sportingly' put the ball out to allow for treatment to an injured opponent there is a spontaneous round of applause. Of course you should give the ball back, it wouldn't be any other way in almost every other sport! That's because people at football matches are not use to seeing such acts of sportsmanship; players now appear to be hard-wired to indulge in petty acts of gamesmanship, such as delaying and gaining a few yards for free kicks and throw-ins, 'simulation', winding up the opposition and supporters, and so on. It's become second nature.

Now I'm not suggesting that we should just accept things the way they are, but right now that is the way they are, and it requires a seismic shift in attitudes to get to a position where the two captains on Saturday would have had a quick chat and then Watford would have been allowed to trundle up and score. That is what should have happened in an ideal world, but I am not sure we should be criticised for not making that happen.

UFO lands to help Royals salvage a point at Watford

In a game characterised by one of the strangest 'goals' you are ever likely to see, Reading managed to scrape a point at Watford as the indifferent away form continued. The overall performance will inevitably be overshadowed by the incident in the 14th minute which led Hornet's boss Adi Boothroyd to be sent to the stands and later describe it as 'like a UFO landing'. Noel Hunt attempted to hook the ball back into play from about two yards wide of the goal and it appeared to have crossed the dead ball line, everyone on the pitch and in the crowd believed the ref and assistant had decided on a goal kick to Watford. Astonishingly, and two everyone's bemusement, the assistant spoke to the referee and a goal to Reading was awarded. It's almost inconceivable that this could ever be given as a goal, and is worth seeing again just to believe it actually happened. There was some suggestion afterwards that we should have allowed Watford to equalise, such was the injustice of the scoreline, but as Steve Coppell said, it's not for players to right the wrongs of officials.  There's a bit more here to explain further the whole affair.

Anyway, we conceded two in the second half and looked to be heading for another defeat when after good work down the left from Stephen Hunt, Shane Long was clearly brought down in the box. I wonder if the ref was tempted to ignore the incident after realising his earlier mistake, but Hunt Senior sent the keeper the wrong way and we had our first away point since the opening weekend of the season. 

Let's be honest, we would have lost without a bizarre decision that will surely haunt the ref and his assistant for years to come. Once again we're unable to replicate our red hot home form, and with a trip to Molineux the next stop on our travels, it's a concern.

Royals have trouncebackability!

Reading thrashed Sheffield Wednesday last night by 6 goals to nil, with The Doyler getting his second hat trick in three games. Andre Bikey and Noel Hunt both got on the score sheet as the Royals were rampant in front of 18,000. I can't tell you too much about the game because I was here (and it was brilliant actually). Anyway, clearly we were excellent - and thankfully Noel Hunt started instead of Shane Long. As stated previously, the home form looks great - we've got to take this into Saturday's match against Watford now. We're now 4th, which just goes to show how open this division will be - we've already lost 2 games yet we are right up with the pace setters.

Poor Royals go down to Tractor Boys

Reading were sunk by two second half goals at Portman Road as Ipswich Town won comfortably by 2 goals to nil. New signing Jon Stead opened the scoring for the home side with a stunning 20 yard shot after an hour, and Reading's misery was compounded when Jonathan Walters headed in with five minutes to go. Overall Reading deserved nothing from the contest, despite Jimmy Kebe missing a good chance in the 9th minute and Noel Hunt hitting the bar late on.

So with five games gone we have just one point from nine away from home. Very few would have expected us to have another season like 05/06, but we've already lost the same amount of games that we did over the course of that whole season. At home we look pretty useful: confident, scoring goals and playing some decent stuff. It's a different story away from home and it's a concern. The one big problem continues to be the lack of a strong midfield player who can make a tackle, get stuck in and break down moves; the truth remains we have never properly replaced Steve Sidwell and as a consequence we often look lightweight and get overrun in the middle of the park. The other matter is Shane Long, he was poor again today but continues to keep Noel Hunt  out of the team, it doesn't make sense. 

We need to improve quickly.

JM 'didn't hear' the boos on Saturday

Apparently John Madejski says he 'didn't hear the boos...' at half-time on Saturday. Personally, if I was the booing type, I would have booed Mr. M for his spectacularly misjudged Delia moment, not for any perceived lack of investment, which was the real reason why sections of the crowd gave him a hard time. The crowd were doing just fine, the team had played well, we probably should have been ahead I suppose, but the last thing we needed was the chairman doing his hubristic motivational thang rounded off with that embarrassing arm-waving routine. I did wonder why the announcer said '...you've heard the views of the chairman!...'. Erm, no we didn't actually, we just saw him prance about like a slightly pissed uncle at a wedding. I guess we should be thankful that he wasn't handed the microphone.

Kebe is 'faster than Ronaldo'!

According to the Evening Post, Liam Rosenior thinks Jimmy Kebe is awesome, and fast. Very fast. Not Usain Bolt fast of course. But pretty darn fast nevertheless:

"I’ve played against Robben and Ronaldo and he's naturally faster than them. I’m not just saying that because he's on my team, he's faster"

I've been very excited by the Kebbster so far this season, and he really tormented the Palace full back all afternoon on Saturday. Together with Rosenior they really looked dangerous down the right, and this could well be a very potent partnership. Murts will have to work hard to dislodge Rosenior right now.

Hunt moans about blocked Toffees move

It's been widely reported that Noel Hunt's brother (as we shall rather childishly refer to him from now on) was a trifle miffed at not being allowed to do one to Everton before the transfer window closed on Monday. Steve Coppell seems to have had a different view of events, but in a direct conflict of opinion the straggley-haired one opined thus:

"...it was a big club and it was disappointing that Reading could not have helped me out a little bit to benefit my career. For what I have done for them, it would have been nice."

Hmmm... firstly, what does he mean 'it was a big club...', I wonder if he meant '...it was a big club, and now it's just a medium size one at best, with aspirations to join the big boys which it is clearly failing spectacularly to achieve'? Erm, probably not.

I like the next bit about benefitting his career, and then 'for what I have done for them...'. Let's get this into perspective now shall we? SC signed you from Brentford and you were given a chance at a higher level, which fair enough you grasped and did us proud son, well done. However, you were paid pretty well I imagine, and at times it was difficult to see what you brought to the team other than a tireless energy and willingness to run around a lot. Let's be clear too that it was the good faith placed in your ability as well as your own hard work which combined to make you a decent player and an asset to the club. An asset which the club should, at the very least, expect to get a decent return on rather than simply hand over for a knock-down fee. It's not really your place to decide what that fee might be either.

Noel Hunt's brother had a pretty indifferent time of it last season, and it's nothing short of a travesty that he won Player of the Season, when it surely had to be Marcus after a many months spent saving more shots than any other Premier League keeper. I think it really is time for the talking to stop and the action to start, whilst Hunt's been in pretty decent form this season so far I expect a lot more from a player attracting such interest from Premier League clubs. Time to get on with it and prove your worth I think.

Newcastle owner needs a drink!

It ain't Royals related, and it's not even Championship related, but this is just funny. Mike Ashley, owner of Newcastle United, clearly needs a drink after watching his team suffer a trouncing at the hands of Arsenal on Saturday.