Reading were Savage in front of goal as Derby had to put him in theirs. Some bad luck and a flat uninspiring performance combined for the Rams to suffer defeat at the hands of the Royals.

Reading 4 v 1 Derby County
Coca Cola Championship
Madejski Stadium, Reading
Wednesday 10th March 2010 - 7:45pm

Att: 14,096

Ref: Mr. K Wright

Goals:

Reading: Long 8’, Kebe 34’, Bertrand 69’, Church 82’

Derby: Sunu 21’

Red Cards:

Deeney (Derby)

Teams:

Derby: Bywater (Deeney 13’), Hunt, Barker, Buxton, McEveley, Sunu (Martin 77’), Green, Savage, Pearson, Tonge, Hulse (Davies 82’) - Unused Subs: Anderson, Leacock, Moxey, Pringle

Reading: Federici, Mills, Tabb, Long, Kebe, Ingimarsson, Rasiak (Church 75’), Bertrand, Sigurdsson, Howard (Gunnarsson 75’), Griffin (Khizanishvili 84’) - Unused Subs: Matejovsky, Henry, Robson-Kanu, Hamer

Match Report:

From the opening whistle of the first half it was the Rams who were under the pump as a recently resurgent Reading looked to deliver an early blow with energetic and attacking play.

Kebe had already sent a good cross slicing across goal, when on his second effort in the 8th minute he was on the end of good work from former Rams favourite Rasiak. Gregorz passed the ball out wide for Kebe who found Shane Long with a near perfect pass that he trapped, beat Barker for pace and slotted it comfortably past Bywater.

Not only did Bywater concede the goal it was at that point he had to concede his place in the team as he left the field injured and replaced by Deeney.

When play resumed Kebe continued to be busy as he hit a shot over the bar following a good volley from Rasiak that fell to him.
Derby was looking flat and likely to concede again very soon but as Brian once said ‘It only takes one second to score a goal’.

As the Rams mounted what seemed like their first foray forward Sunu put Derby on equal terms after good work on the left from Pearson and Hulse who combined in a one-two. Pearson was blocked as he attempted to run into the area but the ball broke loose to Sunu who prodded it home past Reading keeper Federici.

It looked as if the Rams had taken the lead only minutes later when Hulse put the ball in the net but unfortunately he was ruled offside.

Saul Deeney had finally been given a chance in goal for the Rams and he made his first save as a Derby first team player when he rushed Bertrand and did well to block his shot.

But it was the ever present Kebe who added the second for Reading on 34 minutes as Jay Tabb put him in on goal. Jay McEveley had a good opportunity to intercept the pass but instead mad an absolute meal of it and Kebe lapped up the crumbs as he burst into the box and fired past Deeney.

Kebe seemed unstoppable as he smashed a volley that the Rams substitute keeper was happy to see sail over the bar but Saul’s smile turned upside down in the 41st minute when Paul Green under-hit a shocking back-pass which Tabb set of in pursuit of.

Deeney was intent on making sure the Reading player did not reach the ball and was ruled to have brought Tabb down in the box. The resulting red card seemed harsh as there seemed to be little chance of Tabb reaching the ball and it was hard to see how it was even close to being a goal scoring opportunity.

So it came to pass that Robbie Savage stepped up to the net and was handed the poisoned gloves. The home crowd were in raptures and Rams fans had their heads in their hands. The home crowd lost their voice moments later when Long stepped up for to take the penalty kick and could only manage a shot that missed the target by about half a mile.

Perhaps it was Savage staring him down or the thoughts of what people would say if he missed a penalty against the mouthy Welshman. Whatever the reason for missing Savs keeping career was off to a good start and he was on target for a clean sheet.

HT: 2 - 1

Derby came out after the break and began to play football (something laregely unseen in the first 45) and started to huff and puff but could produce little result for their efforts. Even though their possession had diminished, Reading always looked the more likely to score especially now they had a make-shift keeper to beat.

Savage proved he would be no easy-to-beat when he did brilliantly to race out and clear a ball that Long looked set to pounce on. Then moments later caused the whole stadium to erupt when he produced a magnificent save to tip over a swirling free kick from Sigurdsson. For a moment you nearly felt both sets of fans enjoyed the same save for the same reasons. But only for a moment!

Robbie’s heroics were commendable but sadly bad luck had been the order of the day and on 69 minutes Bertrand let fly with a shot from 15 yards which took a deflection at the last moment giving Savage no chance.

The Rams faint hopes of rescuing a point against the odds seemed gone and were permanently snuffed out when on 84 minutes Church put in a fourth for the Royals.

Unsurprisingly Kebe was again the instigator in creating the goal as he shattered the Rams defence he had been seemingly puppeteering all day.

FT: 4 - 1

A day of shocking luck but it was disappointing that the Rams could not muster more fighting spirit you would have hoped to have seen when they were knocked onto the canvas.

With Nigel searching for a loan keeper to cover his instantly depleted stocks fans will be hoping this game is a blip on the radar amongst a run of good to impressive performances.

Dans Man Of the Match:

Robbie Savage – I tip my hat to any player who is willing to take the gloves as it takes real guts to leave yourself open to ridicule if the flood gates suddenly open and expose you playing in such a foreign position.

The score line would have been a lot worse if Sav had not made some telling saves and was genuinely unlucky the third goal found its way in.

After recent criticism by some fans of his outspoken comments in the media, Robbie did what all good Captains have to do and led by example on the pitch.

Managers Reaction:

Nigel Clough speaking to the official site after the match:

"We didn't look as solid as we have recently. Teams have had to work hard to create chances of late, but from the first few seconds Reading looked dangerous and created quite a few chances.

"It was a night of bad luck which I hope has been used up in one game and everything that possibly could go wrong seemed to””.

"We have to dust ourselves down and move on to Saturday at Doncaster where hopefully we can get a result."

On Deeney's Red Card:

"Saul was doing well before the red card; he made a good save and also caught a difficult cross. I didn't think for one minute he was going to be sent off; I think it was a bit harsh to be honest. It was between Sav and Jay McEveley to go in goal once Saul was off, and to be honest he pulled off a few great saves".

On Sunu’s first goal for the club:

"It was a great finish from Gilles, we have seen him producing efforts like that in training" .

"To get another 75 minutes or so at this level is good for him and we're quite excited about what he can produce for us over the next few months."

Next Match:

Doncaster v Derby County
Saturday 13th March – 3pm

Photo: Action Images

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