The battle of the Hoops at Loftus Road ended in a stalemate but this afternoon’s game has provided Ian Holloway with plenty of food for though. The day started early for many supporters, I arrived at the ground around 8.30am to get one of the 756 tickets for Brighton. Some of the LSA boys spent the night outside the ground whilst others arrived during the night. Luckily I managed to get tickets although plenty of people were not as lucky as me but the club could not have done anymore for us its just one of those things that we have to come to terms with in this division. But enough of that and on with the action as Rangers made a few changes tot he side that lost on Tuesday. Andy Thomson, Matthew Rose and Karl Connolly all came in with Bruce, Warren and Dou Dou left out. Rose filled the troublesome left back position but this seems to be only a temporary solution to the huge gap left by Ian Baraclough. The first ten minutes were pretty good from our point of view, we were busy in midfield and had a lot of possession but the unbelievable heat made sure our work rate in midfield was not what it could be and the game dropped to a slower pace which suited the visitors. Neither side created too much in the first half but Reading looked the better side and you can see why they are favorites for promotion with the movement and pace of the front two. One of the reasons for a quiet first half though was a quite awful referee who blew for everything and never allowed the game top flow. I am sure reading fans were more upset with the ref than us after his exploits in the second half but I felt he was the worst ref I have seen this season. Every late tackle was given a booking, every shirt pull was seen as a free kick and although he was going directly by the book it was ruining what could have been a good game. Just before half time Mark Perry was replaced by Dou Dou, Perry had been struggling with his ankle and Dou Dou would provided some more flair on the right. We were badly missing some creation in midfield as Andy Thomson was only given one chance, which he almost scored with but it was looking unlikely we would score in this game if this carried on. Half time was a welcome relief to get a cold drink as it seemed to be getting hotter in the stadium, I can’t remember a match played in that heat for a long time. Second half was all one way traffic as Reading took control and really should have won the game. Nicky Forster was causing problems up front but the back four were very solid and reduced the visitors to long range efforts. Hen came a bizarre moment when James Harper lined up a free kick, which was curled brilliantly into the top corner. A goal David Beckham would have been proud of but whilst Reading Manager Alan Pardew danced a jig on the bench and the players mobbed Harper the referee lined up a free kick to QPR and disallowed the goal. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing, at first I could only assume it was an indirect free kick but later I was told that Palmer had been running out to play a Reading player offside and the linesman flagged for that. I can’t see how he was interfering with play but with this referee nothing suprised me as he must have got a new whistle this week and wanted to show it off. After that Reading really went at us and on came Jamie Cureton to cause us more problems, headers flew inches over and shots went wide and it seemed only a matter of time but our defence were superb and kept calm and refused to panic. Holloway was desperate to change things and during this period and Dave Mcewen came on for his home debut for the disappointing Stuart Wardley, Mcewen was pretty quite up front and found himself playing on the wing for most of the game as Dou Dou drifted into the middle, he did almost win it for us though with a blistering shot from 30 yards out which the keeper just pushed over. From the corner we almost scored but Reading held on and went at us again. The heat was almost unbearable now and both teams seemed to tire in the last ten minutes. Steve Palmer got caught out a few times but the excellent Ben askar was always on hand to bail the skipper out and when they were both beaten Chris Day produced an excellent save to keep us level. So relief all around Loftus Road at the final whistle. We should have lost but the team battled very hard and fought for a point, which we wouldn’t have got last season. Considering this is a brand new team who are still learning it has been an excellent start tot he season with seven points out of nine and that’s four points taken off two of the promotion favorites. Reading look a good bet for promotion on this evidence especially when they get Butler and Cuerton fully fit but our chances of promotion are in for a further test this week with two very tough games in the next five days but if we can continue to defend like this and perhaps be a bit braver going forward we can continue our early season form. Man of the Match: Ben-Askar Players Ratings 1. Chris Day : Made some excellent saves and gives his defence confidence with his constant talking and dealt with crosses well. 8/10 17. Terrell Forbes: Solid at the back and tried to get forward. Struggled when Perry went off as he didn’t have many options going forward but looks a very good signing. 8/10 12. Mathew Rose; Played out of position and is showed as he drifted into the middle all to often leaving space behind him but overall a decent performance. 7/10 4. Steve Palmer: An absolute Rock in defence using all his experience but tired towards the end but it was damn hot out there. 8/10 28. Aziz Ben-Askar: Superb at the back winning tackles and headers all day long and distributing the ball well from the back. 9/10 2. Mark Perry: Didn’t really get in the game to much, worked some nice passing movements with Bonnot and Forbes at times but seemed to be struggling with a knock. 6/10 11. Marcus Bignot: His high energy game was ruining by the weather which is a pathetic excuse I know but not even superman could run around closing people down in that heat and Marcus was given the runaround at times in midfield 6/10 26. Alex Bonnot:
His most disappointing game so far as he didn’t
really get on the ball enough and use his passing
skills 6/10 27. Andy Thomson: As we were under the cosh for most of the game its hard to judge the strikers. His movement was good and he almost scored from his only chance of the game. 6/10 7. Stuart Wardley: A poor game from Wardley, he did his best as ever but he failed to anticipate where his teammates would be and at times looks so slow its unbelievable. I think its time for a change up front. 6/10 Subs 29. Dou Dou: Looks lively when he has the ball but that wasn’t too often unfortunately. 6/10 18. Dave Mcewen: Almost scored a cracking goal but until then I didn’t notice he was on the pitch, again that’s more due to how well Reading played than anything against our forwards. 6/10 22. Richard Pacqueete: On for last five minutes didn’t really have a chance to impress. 6/10 |