Kitson late show gets Royals back on track

Lord Steven of Coppellshire celebrated his 1000th game as a manager with a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Doncaster Rovers. Changes were made by The Gaffer who opted for what was effectively a 4-5-1 formation with Bikey recalled for Pearce at centre back, Kevin Doyle joined the midfield out on the right (Jimmy Kebe was moved to left wing)  and Dave Kitson ploughing a lone furrow when Rovers had possession. At times we controlled the game with Rovers happy to hit on the counter. The match was heading for a goalless draw when in the 82nd minute a clever Matejovsky pass found Chris Armstrong who found Dave Kitson. The prodigal son (mk. II) struck a sweet curling left-foot shot past Neil Sullivan to resurrect our automatic promotion hopes just three days after they had looked dead in the water.

A great win, with a determined and mature performance. We absolutely need to post back-to-back away wins for (possibly?) the first time this season and beat Colin's Crystal Palace on Saturday. Game on, this thing will go to the wire!

Coppell's 1000th match

As has been widely reported tonight's game will be SC's 1000th game as a league manager. He joins an exclusive club of just 17 gaffers, and I think only Dario Gradi and the Purple One are still active in football league management. It's an astonishing landmark and the man is truly a legend; it'd be fantastic to get a win tonight, not least because of the way things have been going lately. I'm going to predict a hard-fought 2-1 win for the Royals, and hearty congratulations to Mr. C. Even if we don't win!

Tenacity, nonsense and despair

Just when you had almost forgotten Alan Pardew he's kindly reminded us what an absolute plank he really is by making some ill-judged and truly offensive remarks on MotD2 last Sunday. Frankly I'm not that surprised he's put his foot in his mouth, he always struck me as one of the great exponents of the gormless post-match comment, splitting infinitives at will and mixing his tenses with the best of them (Peter Reid was the master of this particular art: 'He's went in there like a dose of salts, to be fair' etc). What's more surprising is that he's been asked for an expert opinion on football. Clearly the man's out of his depth when quizzed about such matters, to be fair.

Best team against Donny?

With the Doncaster Rovers game just 36 hours away and Steve Coppell bemused as to what to do next, I thought it would be timely to pick my own starting eleven.
I think we desperately need to win the game to reignite any lingering ambitions of automatic promotion, so....

Marcus - gets the nod after a solid showing and a superb save

Kelly - is he available? Can't do any worse than Row-zed-nior

Bikey - has to get in, Hoofberry ain't good enough

Pearce - no contest

Armstrong - still the best option

Tabb - presuming he was injured on Saturday, if recovered he must start tomorrow

Marek - an enigma for sure, but worth the 'risk'

Cisse - showed enough in the Charlton game to be included. Not sure why he was ommitted on Saturday

Little - one of many underperformers against Ipswich, but good for an hour and then hopefully Kebe can stretch them

Hunt Jr. - why has he been dropped? Can't be any worse than Doyle and Kitson right now

Long - our best performing striker, give him a proper run in the team

Coppell 'hasn't a clue' as Royals slump continues

Steve Coppell is an honourable and intelligent man whose frank admissions in post-match interviews offer a refreshing antidote to the usual rubbish spouted by so many other managers, so his comments after the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town will come as no surprise. SC admitted it 'he hadn't got a clue' why things were going so badly at home, and opined that we were 'almost looking for a gimmick' (a thinly-veiled reference to the Little and Kitson deals perhaps?) to change things around. On paper surely we have the players to get out of this division, but something isn't right and time's running out. The gaffer got it spot on when he said 'we're a soft touch' at the moment at the Madejski - Ipswich didn't really have to bring their 'A' game to get a result. After a promising start when we hit the bar from a set-piece header you could sense half way through the first 45 that the away team had weathered the 'storm' and were growing in confidence. I'm usually less than prescient but my prediction of a goal for Town soon after half time became reality almost immediately after the restart. Jon Stead's belter of an overhead kick was a rare moment of class in a poor match, the other moment was a wonderful save from the recalled Marcus to keep us in the game. We created so few chances that it's hard to recall a decent attempt on goal. It's seems almost ridiculous to criticise individual performances such is the malaise that hangs over the club at the moment, but how on earth Michael Duberry continues to keep Andre Bikey out of the team is a one of the great mysteries of our time (yeah, OK, I exaggerate slightly).

We are playing so badly without any reason that can be clearly defined so perhaps it doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility that we could suddenly click and find the form that has eluded us for so long. Three away games on the bounce seems a perfectly feasible place to start.

In a season that has been so unpredictatble, disjointed and frustrating I'm not going to hazard a guess as to what will happen over the next 9 games. We might go on an unbeaten run, but we might struggle to make the play-offs.

Royals fail to beat basement boys

Reading could only draw with lowly Charlton Athletic last night and consequently lost the opportunity to gain ground on Bongo and Wolves. This was another poor performance at home, and I'll review it by rating each player with a brief comment on their performance.

Federici

Not much to do, but culpable for their second goal and looked a little uncertain at times.

Armstrong

Fine.

Duberry

Rubbish and surely cannot keep Bikey out of the side for much longer.
Prone to excessive hoofing. At fault for the late equaliser.

Pearce

Looking more assured as time goes by; easily one of our better players yesterday.

Rosenior

Another horror show. Poor distribution the sum of which was aimless lumping up the channel. At fault for the late equaliser. 

Hunt

Not good enough once again. Rightly removed to make way for....

Tabb

Can do everything Hunt can't at the moment. Enthusiastic, lively and bagged an assist for Long's second.

Matejovsky

Engimatic. Some good flourishes but drifted out of it and looked disinterested towards the end.

Cisse

Anonymous in the first half; performed well in the second and got stuck in. Made way for...

Harper

Not really enough time to make an impression.

Little

A first half performance that reminded us what we've been missing. Went looking for work and used the ball efficiently and sensibly. Predictably faded in the second half but a welcome and generally impressive return. Alarming how much better he looked than most of the other players. 

Doyle

Contributed very little, an off day.

Long

I've been critical but took his goals well and was a threat at times. Deserves the nod ahead of...

Hunt Jr.

A five minute cameo, did nothing wrong.

Frustrating once again. We really have to start winning at home soon.

Kitson back on loan too!!!

Another rumour becomes reality as Dave Kitson returns to the Royals on loan until the end of the season. I'm excited. A target man of his ilk could be just what we need. More here from the BBC

Little back on loan!

Rumours were rife, but it's now official: Glen Little has returned to the Royals on loan until the end of the season. He's already trained with the squad this morning, and will be available for the visit of Charlton on Tuesday. He told the official website:

"I'm really looking forward to it; it should be an exciting end to the season and I'll do everything I can to try to help Reading get back into the Premier League.

"I'm fit and have been training every week, but just haven't had the opportunity to play at Portsmouth since Boxing Day which has been frustrating.

This has to be great news for Reading FC, a firm favourite of the fans, it will be fantastic to see him marauding down the right wing again. Despite Jimmy Kebe's goal yesterday he's had a poor run of form and we certainly need options there. I expect Little to be eased in as an 'impact sub' rather than an automatic starter. Let's hope he can recreate some of the form that he showed during those halcyon days!

Royals fight back to earn point at Plymouth

A bit of momentum then. We dared to hope that we could regain some form on our travels, and a spririted fight back at Home Park saw the Royals take another positive step towards promotion. Alex Pearce and Jimmy Kebe equalised in each half, but by the end of the match we were the team looking for a winner. Even though Bongo and Wolves won we still have games in hand, and more importantly it looks like we've turned a corner. With basement boys Charlton the visitors to the Stade de Mad on Tuesday night we've got a perfect opportunity to start winning at home again.

Three at last! Royals steel a win in Sheffield

Reading scored for the first time in five games, and then promptly scored again to come from behind and beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at Hillsborough. Kevin Doyle and Shane Long were on target as the Royals secured their first away win since December. ABout bloody time too!

Royals lose, fail to score etc

Luckily I was unable to attend Saturday's 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest, but by all accounts we were better in the first half but didn't come out for the second, allowing Forest to gain in confidence and inevitably bag a well-taken winner. Somewhat predictably Bongo and Wolves also lost at the weekend, and the strange story of the Championship nobody wanted to win continues.

On the positive side Jay Tabb made his debut and looked decent enough. He replaced an abject Jimmy Kebe who's early season form has completely evaporated. It would be unfair to single him out though, too many players are underperforming, and the team is now in a slump that has significantly dented confidence. Perhaps two away games in succession offers the chance to play without fear and and free from the weight of home crowd expectation. With the Championship going the way it is it seems entirely possible that none of the current top three will go up automatically in May. However that said the sides below us aren't so much a chasing pack as a collection of teams vaguely shuffling in a similar direction.