Reading Football Club took another step towards Premier League survival after a 0-0 draw against Blackburn Rovers. It was only the second 0-0 draw we have played in all season and the club had the longest spell between goalless draws of any top flight club. The last coming on the opening day in that not too spectacular stalemate at Old Trafford which saw Reading keep 11 men behind the ball for 90 minutes, frustrating the United players. But back to now and 0-0 is an excellent result for the Royals who have six games left in the season.
The main talking point of the game will have to have been the sending off of Czech international midfielder Marek Matejovsky for a second bookable offence. He was rightly booked earlier in the game for a petty challenge on David Dunn, but with 18 minutes left to go in a stale match, he was adjudged to have brought down Jason Roberts and he was given a second yellow and his marching orders by referee Mark Clattenburg. However TV replays showed that there really wasn’t much in the challenge and it really shouldn’t have warranted another yellow card.
It was a solid performance from the Royals and they arguably created the better chances in a game that won’t live long in the memory of either sets of supporters. And if it wasn’t for Stephen Hunt’s lack of finishing ability (and all round lack of ability, I still haven’t got my head round why a busy, hard working player with no skill deserves to be one of the top earners at the club, I mean come on have you seen the guys first touch? There isn’t one) then Reading could have been looking at three points and not just one. He failed to connect to a cross after some brilliant work from Shane Long (who despite some criticism from myself in recent weeks, impressed me in his cameo appearance).
Reading’s only other chance of note came in the dying seconds after Bikey (him again) rose well from a Shorey free kick but his header was hacked off the line. I have also been really impressed with Bikey since he has come back into the side and he seems to be responding well from Coppell’s praise during the week and he has also bounced back after the bizarre incident in the African Cup of Nations.. It finally looks like we have a solid defensive partnership now with Bikey and Ingimarsson and hopefully it’ll stay that way so we don’t see Sonko and his highly erratic brand of defending back in the side. Even Dubes has taken his place on the bench now. I had been surprised Coppell hadn’t gone with Bikey and Ingimarsson sooner when the Royals were flooding in goals as I had always thought that would be the best partnership, it’s not Ferdinand and Vidic, but it’s a great improvement to what we were seeing earlier in the season, and we must credit those two and Liam Rosenior for their part in the resurgence of the team.
The results of the other struggling teams didn’t look like they were going our way, but thanks to Arsenal for a fantastic comeback against Bolton means we can sleep a little easier with just six games left. It was amusing to see Derby finally rejoin their friends in the Championship in March. They have been an embarrassment to the Premier League this season and hopefully the three teams that come up will not build for a promotion season the year after relegation and actually give the league a go. Good Riddiance to Derby.
Newcastle next week is going to be tough as they have finally found a bit of form with two straight wins including a fantastic win at White Hart Lane today, but hopefully we can bring those delighted Geordie fans to tears at St James Park.
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