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Match report


Saturday, August 23, 2005
Reading 3 - 1 Swansea City AET

Match reports from Jim White and Jeremy Kivell

Reading 3 - 1 Swansea City AET - Match Report by Jim White



Evening all, have just got back from Reading and i have to say that i am proud of the way in which we battled this evening.
Reading put out a pretty much 1st XI and although they played the better football than us, we hung on in there and aside from some awful refeering decisions and some strange tactics, i think we could have come away victorious.

We were very slow to get going and went for a 4-5-1 formation with Leon in the hole behind Akinfenwa and Paul Connor playing wide right.

We conceded a sloppy goal but a Route one goal when Kitson reacted quicker to a flick on and lobbed Willy well.

We did not look to imaginative going forward but held on stoutly at the back with Chrissie Edwards having a very solid game.

We came out for the 2nd half with Ijah replacing big Kev (i hope he is not injured) and tried to take the game to Reading. I thought that the whole midfield were excellent tonight. We just seemed to lack that incisive movement forward.

A lot of our supporters were getting on Ijah's back in the 2nd half but credit to him, he worked some space on the left hand side and crossed (i think it was him) for Bayo to head the ball back across the keeper into the net.

This woke the Swans fans up and i did think from here on we could go and get the winning goal. However, after being booked for a silly foul, Anderson went and committed a very late challenge and was sent off. From what i saw, he could have been given a straight red and so it was a silly challenge given he had already been booked.

Before we scored, i had got very frustrated by the tactics Kenny was using. Bayo tried manfully up front on his own, but in my view he was crying out for some support up there and I would have liked to have seen Paul Connor go up alongside him.

We whethered the storm towards the end of full time, but i had the feeling that the extra man of Reading would count in the end and as it was, 2 good finishes from 2 very good strikers (Kitson and Lita) put paid to our Carling Cup chances.

When we were 2-1 down, the referee (who gave us bugger all throughout the game) missed a challenge on Leon as he went into the box and i am guessing it was from this that Jackett said something to the 4th linesman who then marched onto the pitch, told the ref who then proceeded to send Kenny to the stand.

It will be interesting to see what was actually said, but in a time of 'keeping our discpline' its not good to see Kenny being sent off!!!

Shaun Macdonald came on for OTJ and i thought he looked very good for the time he was on the pitch. I would like to see more of this lad.

If i am honest, we played a defensive game this evening and looked to break away quickly. However, we lacked the pace and incisiveness to do this against a team that will be there or thereabouts in the championship.

I think that we have to accept that the loss is no big shakes and were used to getting knocked out of the Carling cup early anyway. The player (and now manager!!) discpline issue does need to be solved and quickly although i am not sure loosing Ijah will be as key as loosing Izzy.

With a bit more self belief and willingness to attack, i think we could have won the game in the last 10 but we didnt and so onto Walsall.

For any Reading fans that come onto the board and mock us, you are a souless club with souless fans in a city that cares nothing for Football. I hope that when John Madjeski gets bored, you have someone else to try and get you inspired. You won tonight and so well done, but you will never be anything more than a mid sized championship club at best.

Gueret - 7 - Had little chance with the goals. Does not seem as confident with his constantly changing back 4 but made some key saves to keep us in the game.
Ricketts - 6 - Thought he was skinned a few times tonight (by an excellent Glen Little) and look off the pace
Tate - FH 5 - SH & ET 8 - Not a right back but had an excellent time at centre half and really took the game to Reading
Edwards - 7 - Him and Kev were at fault between them for the 1st goal but after that i thought he was really solid and did well against a lively frontline
Austin - 6 - Did not do anything majorly wrong and looked as strong as ever before being taken off
Mcleod - 7 - Thought he had a great first half and looked dangerous. Fell away in the 2nd half but replaced Ijah at left back and tried his hardest then. Would like to see him given an extended run in the team.
OTJ - 7- Thought he worked hard and linked in well with the other 2. Will get better and better and i like the fact that he is our only central midfielder willing to have a shot on goal
Martinez - 8 - Thought he was inspirational tonight. Always there to take the ball and give it on. He won a lot of tackles and worked very hard.
Britton - 8 - As the game wore on, so he worked harder and looked more inventive. He is a trier and a battler and should have had a penalty. Please though Leon, try and shoot sometimes, you never know, you may score!
Connor -6- Tried manfully but is not a right winger. He did win a few balls in the air against the full back in the 2nd half but he crossed the ball too much when what was needed was him on the end of the cross to finish it off!
Akinfenwa - 7 - I can't make my mind up about this guy. He worked hard on his own up front and took his header well. however, there are times when i wish he would use his obvious strengths to cause more problems. Needs to learn to jump as well

Subs
Anderson - 4 - Silly challenge for the first booking and stupid challenge to be sent off. Tried to attack well but looks low on confidence and tonight will not have helped
Macdonald - 7 - I like the look of this lad. Looks mature for his age and has some nice touches. Would like to see him on the bench more and more. I think that like OTJ, he could grow into an excellent player (although i am not sure what position!)

Kenny - 5 - Have to say that i was disappointed with the tactics tonight d felt when we were 1-0 down, he should have brought on another forward. However, he has a gameplan with the players he has and in fairness to him, Reading were reliant on us loosing a man and a friendly ref to come away 3-1 winners. He would have got a 6 if he had not been sent to the stands!

Fans 5 - Thought that the 4 or 500 there tonight were very quiet. Lets hope we have more voice at Walsall on Saturday

Reading 3 - 1 Swansea City AET - Match Report by Jeremy Kivell



Hmmm...not sure what to make of that one. On the face of it, taking the top side in the Championship to extra time is a pretty good effort, and to be fair, there were few bad performances tonight. Indicipline cost us again, though, with Ijah Anderson and Kenny Jackett both seeing the red card.

In front of Willy, the still Tundle-less Swans lined up with Ricketts and Tate at full back, Austin and Edwards in central defence, OTJ, Martinez, McLeod and Britton across the midfield, Bayo pretty much on his own up front, with Connor playing wide on the right.

Reading started the brighter, forcing McLeod into a goal-line clearance early on, before the Swans had a decent 10 minute period of posession, which was brought to an abrupt end by Reading's opener.

It came from a Reading free kick on the half way line.
The ball was simply hit high down the middle, and should have been dealt with, but Edwards was beaten in the air to the first ball. This still shouldn't have been a problem, as Tate and Austin both looked to have a yard on the on-rushing Dave Kitson. Kitson however had no trouble making up the ground, got in between the two defenders, and lobbed Gueret from just outside the box.

The rest of the first half passed resonably quietly, with both sides having spells of posession without looking too dangerous. McLeod, Martinez and Britton were all having reasonable games, and the back four looked quite comfortable considering the level of the opposition. Bearing this in mind, it was disappointing that we didn't make the Reading keeper work until Tudur-Jones hit a deflected shot just before the break.

Anderson replaced the presumably injured Austin at half time. Tate moved to central defence and Ijah slotted in at left back. Reading started the second half well on top, and forced a couple of excellent saves out of Gueret as well as hitting the side netting a couple of times and the bar once with a bullet header.

We managed to survive, and started to gain a bit of a foothold in the game again, without really threatening. Leon was particularly noticeable as the only midfielder who looked like providing any kind of spark.

With about 15 to go, it looked like we'd run out of ideas, and were just letting the game peter out. With no action from the bench, and the 'Jackett sort it out' chants gaining momentum, we equalised from our best move of the match.

Some neat build-up play through midflield saw the ball fed out to Anderson on the left, who crossed at the second attempt to the far post for an unmarked Bayo to trickle a header into the Reading net.

Then with 5 minutes to go, Anderson dived into a challenge needlessly in midfield, and picked up his second yellow card. He's had some stick over the last few days, but I thought he was solid tonight until that misjudged tackle.

McLeod dropped back to left back for the remainder of the game.

In extra time, the inevitable happened, as the man advantage and Reading's extra quality told, with Kitson going round Willy to get his second, and Lita sliding in a third after a cross from the right.

There was still time for yet another red card, this time for Jackett, who must have said something to the 4th official from his seat. What this does to his authority in the camp, and his ability to clamp down on the indiscipline of others remains to be seen.

Going out of this competition in the first round is no great disaster, and I thought we played pretty well in spells tonight, without really creating too much. Bayo battled away up front but was too isolated from his nominal strike partner Connor, who spent most of the evening winning the occasional flick-on wide on the right.

In midfield, Martinez had a reasonable game, but I'm afraid OTJ was out of his depth tonight, and a passenger from half time onwards. McLeod had a decent first half, but faded in the second, ending up at left-back after the sending off. Shaun McDonald came on in extra time, and showed some promise with his willingness to make runs into the Reading box, but the pick of the midfield was Britton, who was the only one able to pick up the ball from deep and run at opponents. As always with Leon, though, there was precious little end-product to show for his industry.

At the back, Chris Edwards had a solid game alongside first Austin then Tate. Ricketts was better than of late, and as I said earlier, Anderson had a solid 40 minutes, which was ruined by his sending-off. Willy made several outstanding saves, but was caught in no-man's land for their first, although to be fair his defenders let him down there.

It was a reasonable showing at times tonight, but we were lacking any real spark. Trundle and Robinson might well have made a big difference if available, but that's all conjecture. I didn't expect anything out of this game, and that's how it turned out. The most disappointing thing is the continuing indiscpline. It's costing us now, and it looks like it's going to cost us even more in the months to come.

Reading: Stack, Makin, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Shorey, Hunt, Harper, Sidwell, Oster (Little 14), Kitson, Doyle (Gunnarsson 71), Little (Lita 82). Subs Not Used: Hahnemann, Convey.

Booked: Harper, Kitson, Gunnarsson.

Goals: Kitson 14, 95, Lita 114.

Swansea: Gueret, Tate, Edwards, Austin (Anderson 45), Ricketts, Britton, Martinez, Tudur-Jones (MacDonald 101), McLeod, Akinfenwa, Connor. Subs Not Used: Murphy, Thorpe, Goodfellow.

Sent Off: Anderson (85).

Booked: Tudur-Jones, Martinez, Anderson.

Goals: Akinfenwa 80.

Att: 7,603

Ref: K Stroud (Dorset).

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