Just got back. What an incredible game and probably our hardest fought 3 points of the season. The first half was essentially a blood bath. The inept refereeing and his ability to miss every single incident (elbows on May and Maguire for starters) could and maybe should have lead to one or two sending offs today. The crowd were wound up by it, compounded on every single incident involve us tackling their players seemed to be a yellow. I felt the free kick incident first half where we were trying to take the free kick and Simon Cox would simply not move from in front of the ball summed it up. The man had completely lost control and their players simply did not give a f**k. If you can keep elbowing players, kicking them and doing anything without being booked you do it till your cautioned. Overall I thought we were improved on Tuesday (over the two halves then). Maghoma was excellent and had the beating off his full back every time. It just clicks perfectly with Mattock behind him. The front two looked good and May made their two lumps at the back nervous when chasing them down. He had a few attempts from wide right which fizzled past the opposite post. We had a few scares at the other end. Loovens was disposed and fouled with the referee carrying on which led to a cross from byline we scrambled clear. They had another chance where I think Murray on the right almost worked an opening for a shot on goal but the colossus Lees cleared it away. It was a bit of a fast and frantic game with both teams trying to play and both keen to press and stop the other team playing. Around 30th min they got the penalty which at the time without replay I would say was a pen, but need to see again. Coke lost track of his man and then felled the guy. The referee couldnt blow his whistle quick enough, he was having a party.Their player steps up and Westwood makes a fantastic save into the air - We were safe. Breaking clear down the other end with Maghoma we almost scored ourselves gaining a corner. The rest of the half was not without controversy - the ref who had achieved his aim of drawing all the attention to himself by this point booked Palmer for what was a perfect tackle. A disgraceful decision. Second half and we started with Maguire just taking on all their players rather than the ball back to Lees to fizz long diagonal forcing an early corner. We used a few mixed up set pieces and this was one towards edge of box and Mattock went for the strike. May had another chance that went wide. There was one where I think Mattock put a ball in and Nuhui just missed without the defenders nowhere near.We had done another earlier with Maguire which didnt work, but the ideas were there. A little way through the second half and we ran up our changes. Hope was on for Coke and Maghoma once again moved to the middle where he looks a constant threat to opposition with the ball, but a competent tackler without it. Around then we had a spell of high pressure. They replaced Glenn Murray with another big lad in Pogrebnyak and had a spell of corners to make us nervous. We then had the next controversy with their player jumping on Loovens shoulders to get height and putting the ball just wide. Lucky for the referee he missed or he may have done well to escape the ground alive. We had one where Lees had a head injury and we had to defend without much height. Another their player headed it towards the back post and from point blank range Westwood made a world class save he had no right to save. Sensational It took us all the way towards the death for us to get our goal. Nuhui induced a handball (with a push really) from their player and we had a close range shot at goal. With Maguire off, no one objected to May taking the shot, but it was close range so there was little scope for getting it up and over the wall. He lines up, it hits the wall then with a fortunate deflection and trickles into the bottom right corner and into the net. 1-0 WEDNESDAY!!!!!! The crowd when mental and May loved it absolute legend. After the goal we were on the case for a second, May chasing down and forced their defender to handle the box - Penalty Wednesday!!!!!. Oh wait, we have a complete homer of a referee on the field. We had by this point got Helan on who again made another good cameo. His touch was erratic, but when defending a goal lead I think he is the perfect player for us with his pace which he used well to slow down Readings attacks. They ran up the subs - Mackie for Cox and Guthrie on for Akpan and went for it. We held firm much to the referees disgust. A fantastic win - our 5th league clean sheet and a place in the top 6 to boot. Ratings Westwood - 9 Saved a penalty and made a world class save from point blank range. Unbelievable last line of defence Mattock - 8 Virtually flawless, used the ball well and always able to find space or work the ball to a man in tight areas. Also largely untroubled by their wide man Blackman (??). Needs to be tiny bit careful when he does the ball to Maghoma and then makes the run beyond as the latter is often double marked and getting pushed back. Loovens - 7 Slight error first half where they got through, but reasonably solid. Lees - 8 Warrior at the back. Won every ball, even against Murray and Pog. Plays like he has been around for years. Few key interceptions Palmer - 6 Played ok today. Few dodgy moments, but nothing too worrying. Maghoma - 7 Constant danger to Reading. Looks strong in possession as well. Love the way he turns defenders and then just runs forward. Much more aggressive this season than last. Just wish pass the ball Semedo - 7 Much better than Tuesday. Made some good challenges to come through with the ball. Coke - 6 Dodgy for the penalty, but used the ball much better than Tuesday. Maguire - 6 Had a ok game today few dodgy decisions in final third. Put a few better set pieces in. We may not have won the game though if he went off assuming he would have taken Mays late free kick. Nuhui - 7 Was reasonably solid upfront and got a lot of his flicks right. Much improved on Tuesday. May - 8 Absolutely immense upfront. Just ran himself into the ground; took several elbows from the Reading players but had the last laugh when they had to watch his shot trickle in off their torsos. Looked lively every time he had the ball and dribbled quite well with it. ---------------------------------------- Hope - 7 Looked pretty good when he came on. Not quite as good a player as the ones in the team, but is a good option from the bench Helan - 7 Used his pace well to see off their threat. Dielna - Only on for last few minutes to screen out their danger. Gray - 7 Set us up reasonably well and made changes to go for the win second half. Referee - 0 Compounded his shocking decisions and ability to miss every incident with his push on Coke when he was surrounded by Owls players. Needs to be disciplined by the referees association along with his colleagues. A disgrace to his profession and a reason why the respect campaign will never work. Its wrong that our players should have had to take several elbows to the head off the ball and it be allowed to continue. If that happened to me at work I dont think I would have been as calm as young May was today. Fair play to him. Happy with that. 15 points on the board from 8 games is unbelievable. UTO
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 19:55:38 +0000
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