Adam Federici does his José Luis Chilavert audition piece

By: Martyn | December 27th, 2008

Cor blimey, I didn’t expect such a lively two hours at the Madjeski Stadium. In fact, I didn’t expect the Reading fans to be as chirpy as they were judging from our previous encounters with them, yet they helped give the spectacle on the pitch a wonderful backdrop atmosphere. Two hours of great fun was what fans of both sides were treated to in this 1-1 draw, a game that will obviously be remembered for Reading’s goalkeeper scoring a goal in the referee’s idea of 4 minutes injury time. 96 minutes the goal was clocked at, and Dave Jones was understandably fuming. If the ref had blown before they had taken the corner, the Royals players and boss Steve Coppell wouldn’t have uttered a single protest, as a piercing peep then would have been well, royally justified. Alas, as gutting as conceding a 96th minute equalizer in a game that is only supposed to run 94 minutes is, the very implausability of a goalkeeper hurdling upfield to bury it did eventually bring a disbelieving smile to my face on the coach home, but that was about by the time we’d reached Newport. I wish I could say that Adam Federici’s heartbreaker was the only talking point. But it wasn’t. At all. The metaphorical cherry on the cake, if anything.

As I launch into a ref rant, I firstly want to point out that with all the lunges and tackles that were flying in, I thought the ref handled a game between two of the four best teams in this division very well for 93 minutes and 59 seconds. In that sense, he had a great game and there can be no complaints from either set of supporters. As has been stated before, maybe it is the players flying into each other with the tackles anyway that should be on the receiving end of fan anger, rather than the easy target that is the ref for failing to brandish the correct colour card. But this wasn’t the case yesterday. Failing to apply the correct time (that let’s not forget, the referee himself tells the fourth official to indicate on his electronic board for all and sundry to see) really is unforgivable. I’ll run my argument in tandem with the comments of the Reading gaffer – who defended the referee in the face of Jones’s pure fury – so as to clarify why I feel so disappointed at the man in black.

“The cumulative breaks created the four minutes” – Yes Steve, that’s why the ref was supposed to play just the four allotted 4, rather than 6.

“Referees aren’t trying to do us a favour, they are there to be arbiter” – That I don’t doubt, and it’s not a sign of taking sides, rather sheer uselessness. Whether the ball is in open play or out for a throw in, a free kick, a corner kick or a goal kick, we aren’t supposed to wait for the outcome when it’s already been two minutes since the game ended. In fact, as soon as the ball went out for the corner that resulted in Reading’s goal, the ref should have penetrated the plastic contraption in his mouth with a lungful of air!

“I can’t see any complaint there” – If it had been Enckelman scoring in the 96th minute, one somehow gets the feeling that Coppell might suddenly have identified the complaint.

As I touched upon previously, the ref had a hard job, and I for one was grateful that neither Chopra or Johnson were given worse punishments than certain lunges they went in for maybe warranted. Now I know some will say this is a case of what goes around comes around and that karma punished us with this late goal because we were lucky to have 11 men on the field. But if Johnson and Chopra had been red carded, the ref also would had to have sent off the Hunt brothers for some shocking tackles and Duberry for persistenly raising his arms and telling Jay Bothroyd to meet him off the pitch for a scrap.

Ahhh, Michael Duberry. The hapless Reading centre-back was on the end of some menacing terrace chant repitition from the City faithful during the second half, and I’ve never seen a footballer react to fan chanting so badly for a long, long time. The chant of “Duberry, you’re a grass” echoed throughout the Madjeski Stadium for what seemed like the entire second half. Most of you are probably familiar with the origins of the chant, and it’s clear that it touched a raw nerve with the player. Unsurprisingly. Duberry reacted with a whole manner of his own insults: V-flicks, thumbs-up, clenching his arse-cheeks and giving them a wiggle (I kid you not!), pointing to the name on the back of his replica jersey, sarcastic applause, and building up a lorry load of phlegm and dispensing of it on the turf near our end of the stadium. Niiiiice. Whilst the abuse was both immature and harsh, it clearly worked in its main aim – Winding up an opposition player to the point of losing his focus on the game. Duberry, for all the years he’s been involved in the game should know by now how to deal with such vicious vocal lashings, and it was to his team’s detriment that he could not handle it on this bitterly cold afternoon.

The Reading players – obviously overjoyed anyway at salvaging a point from a game they had seemed destined to lose – celebrated upon the ref finally blowing his whistle like they had just won the Champions League. In an ill-advised move (presumably a show of support for his mate Duberry who had been dealt such a rough verbal-bashing), Liam Rosenior ran straight to the 3500 Cardiff fans who had made the trip (we must be in the top 5 best supported away clubs in the UK, top 10 in Europe maybe) and did a celebration akin to that of a toddler just given a lifetime’s supply of Haribo sweets. Cue City fans rising to this goading and charging down to the front of the wonderfully named Foster’s Lager Stand amidst the throwing of about £500 in pound coins, as well as stationary (well, pens, but the idea of sharpeners, rubbers and rulers gracing the Berkshire sky tickles me no end), half-eaten crushed pies and lighters. Duberry continued to rub the result into the faces of the travelling army, milking his celebrations for far too long and lingering on the turf for what seemed like an eternity. I’m sure Thames Valley Police absolutely adores him for that, and as City fans continued to try storming onto the pitch (actions which are impossible to condone), out came the horses and several pairs of handcuffs. If ever there was a signal for time to leave the ground sharpish while the idiots were rounded up, that was it.

Now for the most important thing, the game itself, which was a fiery, fast tempo affair. We were up against it for the most part with waves of Reading attacks hitting our sandbanks. Nonetheless, we had four outstanding chances other than the goal we scored. The guilty parties were Chopra, Ledley, Johnson and Bothroyd, so by no means were we second-best. In fact, we gave a defensive masterclass, and it was a performance drenched in character. Annoyingly though, the midfield started far too anonymously, and Routledge failed to ever really get into the game. Taking the silver lining from that however, it was pleasing that we gave a good account of ourselves without him shining. As for Reading, they strung together a few very tasty moves indeed (as you expect), and Kevin Doyle makes me think I need glasses such is his inability to stay still. The best thing about his running though is that it’s always clever and calculated. This was clearly not the best showing they’ll give all season, but then neither was it the worst. All those misplaced passes will come together next game and probably result in about 5 goals.

The City player ratings in rank order. And a different take on proceedings.

Gavin Rae – Which idiot was it who wrote after last week’s game against Sheffield Wednesday that Gavin Rae was finished at this level? Erm, oh yeah right, that was me. Oops-a-daisy! Rae was like a tiger, lion, and every other generic fearsome animal rolled into one! Not only did he play the wavebreaker role superbly, he actually looked comfortable on the ball. Aaaaaand, every pass was carefully placed and delivered with perfect execution. There’s more: Rae held his position excellently and attacked when necessary. Ruddy awesome.

Roger Johnson – At one point, my friends and I in the crowd were convinced Johnson had broken his leg. On the floor writhing around in agony with one leg totally stationary, we feared the worst. However, Johnson eventually got up and carried on and the incident turned out to be a bit of bad cramp. Thank Heavens for that, because Johnson was brilliant. He almost scored a header too, denied narrowly by Federici’s stretching palm. Most pleasingly though was the fact that Johnson’s distribution was decent for a change.

Jay Bothroyd – One of my favourite players in world football is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Like the great Swede (the best player in the world according to his manager, one Jose Mourinho) super Jay seems incapable of scoring simple goals (cynics might remove the word simple from that sentence, but screw you cynics). Regardless of this, what he and his Internazionale counterpart offer to their team is just invaluable. Both control and guide the ball with absolute ease, and are blessed vision that no other players in their respective leagues have even a modicum of. It’s not too farfetched to hereby refer to Jay as Zlatan Bothrimovic. A pseudonym that just rolls off the tongue.

Gabor Gyepes – Strong and dominant and part of a defence that would and should have kept a clean sheet had the ref played the right amount of injury time. Gyepes is fast-becoming that defender every club has ~~at least~~ one of: Mr Reliable.

Michael Chopra – Like a Duracell Bunny with ADD and Red Bull coffee in his hip-flask. Should have scored in the first half but instead let Federici have the ball after a woeful touch. He could have made amends for his earlier profligacy by scoring another in the second but dithered on the ball before sending a tame shot straight into Federici’s rib cage. The best strikers always get at least one though, and Chopra poked home in the 89th minute to send the travelling faithful into hysterics! Great times…

Kevin McNaughton – Relished the battle with the Hunt brothers (Ireland’s version of Nintendo’s Italian plumbing pair) and tracked back to great effect on numerous occasions. A modern day full-back who is equally adept at both defending and attacking.

Peter Enckelman – A few great saves, calls and ball-in-air-plucking motions.

Mark Kennedy – Even though he plays at left-back for us, it’s obvious that Kennedy is still a player of an attacking nature because he certainly has a wonderful eye for a pass. Has enough grit and mental/physical strength however to be a fully competent defender at this level.

Paul Parry – Got involved and although a final ball was lacking on far too many occasions, Parry had the Reading defence penning him in and worried frequently.

Wayne Routledge – Too quiet, but was bullied and crowded by a paranoid Royals backline and midfield. Like with Parry, the Royals cleverly realised where our main threat comes from. Thankfully, this gave Rae and the CM a chance to shine for a change.

Joe Ledley – Was second there for too many loose balls and 50:50 challenges. Had a great chance to put us ahead immediately after the interval but squeezed it agonisingly wide. The young captain wasn’t exactly awful, but his commitment to the cause is questionable with a certain window set to be flung open. Will tomorrow’s game against Plymouth be his last? Certainly it will be interesting to see whether he features against Reading in the FA Cup as this would render him unavailable to other clubs for the remainder of the competition and affect his price tag.

Peter Whittingham – A welcome return but little time to make an impact (N/A)

So that was that. To wheel out this old chestnut – We’d have taken a point before the game, blah blah blah. True mind. Pleasingly, we have Reading in the 3rd round of the FA Cup this time next week. After yesterday’s fireworks, plenty of much needed spice was added to a game in which we will be trying to launch a streak that will retain our runner-up crown… or one better! Plymouth at home tomorrow, and I’m plumping for a 2-1 victory to the Bluebirds! Ciao for now.