What a good game; and failing to avoid the well known cliche it was certainly a game of two halves. Reading were excellent in the first half, and poor in the second. Chelsea were woeful in the first half and good enough in the second.
Where to start? Well, not the beginning, because I missed the kick-off. As the game kicked off I was running from the bus to the turnstile (and getting my foot soaked as I stepped in a huge puddle). There were reports of all sorts of trouble with the buses (the Henley bus broke down) and ours was 15 minutes late getting to us. We then got caught up in the usual traffic jams through town and around the ground as an almighty rain storm dented holes in the roof. Once I finally got to my seat, the game was already in full flow and I’d missed all the pre-match stuff including Kingsley and the PA team. (As I also missed my pre-game pint I queued up for one at halftime and missed all the half time stuff from the boys as well. Sorry guys, hopefully the bus will get us to the ground earlier on Saturday).
Chelsea had the first real chance when Drogba hit the post, but he was actually offside. After that the first half was all Reading. If only we’d put away the chances we were given. Hunt was excellent and despite my nervousness was man of the match, didn’t put a foot round and made the Chelsea defenders look fools with his neat flicks. Duberry was having a good game, Murty and Oster we combining well on the right and Doyle and Long were working the defence well (however they are a bit similar to play together). Harper and new boy Cisse were doing well in the middle against Lampard and Sidwell. Lampard was invisible, and Sidwell was running round looking like he had a point to prove, but ended up just fouling a lot (in the end he got booked). Unfortunately, his Reading replacement was doing just the same and got booked as well for a lunge.
The Reading goal came just after a substitution. Duberry pulled up with a groin strain and Reading brought Bikey on. His first job was to run up as Reading had a free-kick. The ball was sent to the edge of the area and Ingermarrson sent the ball towards the goal and Kevin Doyle. Amazingly, Cech came to collect the ball, and only suceeded in taking out Doyle and his markers. The ball went untouched across the 6 yard box to fall at an amazed Bikey’s feet, who planted the ball in the net from his first touch of the game.
The crowd went wild and for the rest of the half it was party atmosphere (”Sidwell, Sidwell, what’s the score?”) The Chelsea fans were pretty poor. Noisy at the start, but repetitive. As soon as they were behind, they shut up. Sadly, Reading failed to make it 2 or 3-0 when they had the changes. Someone blased over the ball, Doyle shot a couple tamely and worst of all Oster hit the post from about 6 yards away.
The 2nd half started and Mourhino took a gamble with making all his substitutions and it paid off. Sidwell was replaced and it allowed Lampard to get further forward. Whilst Reading were trying to sort this out, Chelsea scored. Lampard was left unmarking in midfield by Cisse and drove through to score. Poor defending, and perhaps the goalkeeper should have saved it.
2 minutes later it was 2-1 and there was nothing Marcus could have done with the 2nd. Drogba hit and excellent curling powerful strike from 30 yards (exactly as the bloke in the line for the beer at half time told me he would do!).
The Chelsea fans woke up (”Sidwell, Sidwell, what’s the score?” Doesn’t actually work if he isn’t playing) to which Reading replied with “You only sing when your winning”. What I truly hated was all the suits in the West Stand coming out of their little boxes cheering. 1) Get in the away end 2) if you are in the wrong end, be subtle 3) don’t watch the game on tv when you are at the ground. One fat suited git got pelted by something and when complained to a steward was told to shut up. Good work from the stewards. And he really annoyed a St. Johns Ambulance person. Would probably have been chucked out if he wasn’t in a box!
After the goals, Chelsea mostly sat back on their lead with breaks from Malouda (looked sharp) and Wright-Philips (fast but ineffective). Reading had no answer and whilst they made a few chances, they’d run out of steam. It got worse when Cisse was sent off for a 2nd booking. Pizzaro went down in similar fashion to Evra, but unlike Kitson, Cisse had mearly clipped him. I think that is the only way Pizzaro fits in at Chelsea. On what I’ve seen so far, he doesn’t look Premiership class, let alone Chelsea class (not that they have class, but you understand what I mean).
Oster, Long and Doyle faded from the game in the second half and we really needed our injuried/suspended players back. Little, Lita and Kitson could have turned the game back to us, and it shows how small our squad is compared to Chelsea who managed to turn the game with their substitutions despite having a number of players out injured.
Ashley Cole got booked late on for the worst piece of time wasting I’ve ever seen. He effectively walked away from the pitch with the ball in his hands. If the ref had let him, he’d have gone down the tunnel with in. Then he kicked it away.
It ended 2-1 to Chelsea and Hunt and Cech hugged (apparently; I rushed off to the bus dead on final whistle as no doubt it would leave on time even if it had been late arriving) and Reading fans were left wondering how close we’d got again. What might have been. Chelsea will be relying on Drogba a lot this season, even more than Terry and Cech as he is the player they have got to turn draws into wins.
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