- Reading to extend ground capacity Excellent (providing we stay up) but they must do better with the public transport otherwise the traffic chaos will just get worse.
- Steve Sidwell joins Chelsea I can understand the attraction for Steve but I hope he is prepared for a lot of time not playing much football. As much as an admirer of Sidwell as I am, I don’t think he is good enough for Champions League, so will be very much a squad player
- Congratulations to the Murtys on the birth of their daughter.
- Shorey in England B squad Not good enough. What I mean is that he should be in full squad
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Archive for May, 2007
Reading showed great fighting spirit and came back three times from behind, but ultimately fell short of a win that would have given them a European place. However, the UEFA cup spot was lost at home to Watford last week and this was a great result.
Goals came from Seol, Doyle and a great strike from Gunnarsson. With Sidwell now having left the club Reading will be on the lookup for a replacement, but Gunnarsson should be given a good long chance in the team. Each time he has played he has done well.
You might also want to read :It was the worst of games, but it was the best of seasons at the Madejski as Reading ended their home games with a dismal performance against an equally poor Watford.
Before the game, Kingsley genuflected before the passing referee and linesmen, before stating his innocence via the medium of T-Shirt
Before the game, there were quite a few announcments and awards. The reserves won their division of the Premiership (and later the Premiership title by beating Bolton 2-0)
Then Ivar Ingimarsson was awarded the Player of the Year with Nicky Shorey 2nd and Stephen Hunt, 3rd. All justified IMO. Well done, Ivar.
Then onto the game and the entertainment more or less ended. First half was all Reading, but no end product. We hit the bar, and England/Man United goalkeeper Ben Foster was impressive in stopping anything else hitting the net.
The second half really dragged and Watford’s physical play started to get the upper hand. They scored from a freekick where Reading’s offside trap didn’t work, although actually there was a foul on Michael Duberry as he was held and stopped moving so he was keeping the other’s onside.
The 2nd goal, on 85 minutes was a mistake from Marcus Hahnemann where he simply misjudged the flight of the cross and his slip fell into Watford hands.
This provoked a mass exodus from the home support, despite their being a sceduled lap of honour after the game. The bloke next to me explained that he had a bus to catch. Well, so did I but I stayed to watch and clap and cheer on the team after a great season.
I was disappointed that half the support had disappeared but was near furious to get outside to discover my bus has actually left. The 74 and 76 had buggered off without anyone who’d watched the lap of honour.
There was talk of them coming back, or another bus being arranged to take everyone left behind home, but given the lack of organisation I wondered what time that might be. So, I called the wife and we got home only 30 minutes later than normal. I guess I was lucky but that is typical organisation. I wonder why no one told the bus drivers.
Apologies for the delay to this post, but I have been away and didn’t have time to post this before leaving
You might also want to read :The Times reports that Kingsley the Lion will be born free and the mane charges against him and been dropped. He can walk the touchline with pride and roar on Hunt and and other members of the Royals pack.
With Reading chasing a Uefa Cup place in their first season in the top flight, Kingsley might have had to miss the vital match against Watford at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday. However, after reviewing video footage, an FA spokesman said: “We will be taking no further action.”
Thank Lions for that. It is the last home game of the season and my son would have been gutted not to see Kingsley this Saturday. Common sense has prevailed otherwise there might have been a 5-year old pitch invasion to take out the reference. He was really annoyed when he saw him being “sent off”.
The premiership rules are so prudish. Back in the Championship, Kingsley was allowed to do much more, such as belly flops over the inflatable advertising hoardings.
To find out all there is to know about Readings Royal mascot, visit Kingsley Royal at 1871.net. Be shocked to learn :-
- The current lion is not the original Royal mascot
- The artist who made the statue that inspired Kingsley committed suicide because he got his legs the wrong way round
- Kingsley was first in trouble for a pitch invasion back in 1998
- In 1999 police had to step into a fight between Kingsley and Joey Barton, erm, I mean the Wycombe Wanderers mascot, Bodger
- Kingsley recently completed the Reading half-marathon raising £1379 for charity
Reading moved back into 7th place (and the dreaded/earned for UEFA cup spot) with a good win over Newcastle. It was a fairly comfortable victory and was the tail of two returning strikers.
Michael Owen played his first game since that night in the World Cup against Sweden and it was good to see him. He got a round of applause from Reading and Newcastle fans alike when his name was announced. He looked sharp early on, putting the ball into the back of the net, but was called offside. After an early good start, Newcastle faded and Owen didn’t get many more chances. He ended up playing the whole 90 minutes probably due to injuries to other Newcastle players. Has any other team been so cursed? Siberski broke his arm mearly colliding with Kitson’s foot.
As Reading grew in dominance of the game, Newcastle were being pegged back and started giving the ball away easily. Carr was dispossess and the ball came to Soel, who despite having another relativly poor game, put a good ball into the box. Oster dummed the ball and it fooled the Newcastle defence leaving Kitson 1-1 with the keeper. A fierce shot hit the back of the net and Kitson was away; his first goal since the opening day of the season. He dived into the East stand in joy. Of course he was booked, silly ref Reilly having already sent off the Reading mascot Kingsley in the first half.
It was a great moment for Dave, a season of frustration for the big striker was over. He was the player I thought would set the Premiership alight with his goals as of the three main strikers, he was the one I thought was best adapted for the top flight. As it was, Doyle came to promience early on and Lita took over once Doyle was hamstrung. Now Kitson is back to nearing his best and he will be our main weapon for next season as the other teams will have seen so little of him.
In tonights game Shorey and Ingarmasson were the standout players and they will probably be competing for Player of the Season too. My vote goes to Nicky Shorey, great defending combined with good forward running at keys times that turned our season round.
You might also want to read :Our hero and mascot was unjustly sent off against Newcastle on Monday night :-
Idiot ref Mike Riley got confused and thought the 7-foot predator was one of the Reading players. Kingsley played up the moment excellently, the Premierships premier mascot adopted the International Stance of the innocent victim of injustice.
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