Live- Reading v Plymouth

Sportsdesk • Published 9 Feb 2010 08:00 0 Comments

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FULL TIME. Reading 2 Plymouth Argyle 1

It's all over and Reading have made it three league wins in a row for the first-time since December 2008.

Brian McDermott's side left it late with Shane Long netting an injury time penalty after sub Hal Robson-Kanu had been brought down.

Royals dominated the match but it looked like they would have to settle for a point when Carl Fletcher's 68th minute strike cancelled out Long's 51st minute opener.

In-form Long now has four goals in his last three games.

The victory was not enough to lift Reading out of the relegation zone.

But a massive eight point gap has been formed between them and Argyle below them.

90 mins + 2. GOAL. Reading 2 Plymouth 1.

Indeed there is one more twist as Shane Long has scored what must be the winner from the penalty spot.

Hal Robson-Kanu did superbly well to win the spot-kick, his blistering pace tempting Chris Clark into a crude tackle than left referee Oliver Langford with little option.

Long stepped up and smashed the penalty past Stockdale for his fourth in three games.

What a finish it's been.

90 mins. Four minutes of time added on. Is there one more twist to this Pilgrims' tale?

85 mins. How Reading did not score there is anyone's guess.

McAnuff's free-kick was saved by Stockdale and long looked certain for a simple tap-in from a few yards out.

But the ball somehow rolled wide of the post to evereyone's amazement.

No tv replays here so can't tell exactly what happened but it looked a dreadful miss.

Argyle's Arnason was also booked for the initial challenge on Howard.

81 mins. Time running out here. Readiing are still on the front foot but Argyle are defending for their lives.

76 mins. Ingimarsson goes close with another header from Bertrand's free-kick.

This one is saved by Stockdale.

Noone has been booked for the visitors.

73 mins. Reading make another chance and Hal Robson-Kanu has replaced Simon Church.

So, with injury time, Royals must have 20 minutes left in which to muster a winner.

Can they do it????

67 mins. GOAL. Reading 1 Plymouth 1.

And Argyle have equalised through their skipper Carl Fletcher.

Kenny Cooper's initial shot was blocked by Ingimarsson only for Fletcher to sweep the loose ball past Federici.

Well, no-one saw that coming. Can Reading dig deep and find a second goal?

Joe Mason has replaced McNamee in Argyle's final change.

61 mins. McDermott makes his first change and Jimmy Kebe is on for Karacan.

A few decisions are going against Royals here but they're still comfortably in front.

58 mins. Another good chance for Long who races around the defence and toe-pokes just wide of the far post with Stockdale beaten.

Long's loving this and the fans are singing his name.

56 mins. Howard forces a fine save from Stockdale from a long-range free-kick.

51 mins. GOAL. Reading 1 Plymouth 0.

And Shane Long simply can't stop scoring.

He was put through by a lovely ball from Brian Howard, he showed his marker a clean pair of heels then slotted a low angled shot past David Stockdale and into the far corner.

A clinical finish from an in-form player. That's four in seven for the Irishman.

50 mins. Reading are under the cosh here.

Federici made a superb save to odeny Mackie from Long range then Khizanishvili made a crucial tackle to deny Cooper on the follow-up.

The corner is flicked on to Sawyer whose instinctive shot forces another crucial save from Federici.

47 mins. Argyle must have had a rocket from Mariner in the dressing room as they have started well.

Mackie burst through but Alan Griffin came across to make a covering tackle.

46 mins. Argyle boss paul Mariner makes two changes for the second-half.

Craig Noone is on for Alan Judge while Kenny Cooper has replaced Rory Fallon up front.

As you were for Royals.

HALF TIME. Reading 0 Plymouth 0.

The first half finishes goalless but Reading have easily created the best chances.

Skipper Ivar Ingimarsson has sent three headers wide while Simon Church blazed over in front of goal.

The Pilgrims have offered little in attack, but they've defended well enough and had a little bit of luck when required.

And the longer the deadlock remains, the more Argyle will fancy their chances of nicking something.

Time for a cuppa.......

43 mins. Proper heavy snow now. Coming down thick and fast.

Still no breakthrough.

38 mins. First real chance for Plymouth who catch Reading on the break.

It ends with Jamie Mackie firing well wide of Adam Federici's goal, but at last something for Pilgrims fans to get excited about.

35 mins. Royals are still on top as a few snowflakes fall but they must start firing in front of goal.

They've created enough to be in front but they must stay confident.

It may take just one goal to settle it tonight.

30 mins. Another chance goes begging for Royals.

McAnuff and Long combined well down the right and McAnuff found Church with a clever and instinctive pass.

The Wales striker's first touch was good but his finish let him down and he blazed miles over the bar.

He kicks the air in disappointment.

25 mins. Ingimarsson sends a header wide for the third time tonight.

Church was fouled and Andy Griffin swung in a beautiful free-kick.

Ingimarsson rose above the defence but his glancing header flew just wide.

20 mins. Brilliant defending from Khizanishvili.

The Georgia captain shields the ball from Rory Fallon as though to win a goal-kick- then cheekily keeps it in play and sprays a marvellous cross-field ball to Bertrand's feet. Pure class.

Royals turn defence into attack then win a corner which Ingimarsson again heads wide.

16 mins. Good opening for Reading there. Howard won the ball, Gunnarsson slipped in Church but Reda Johnson slid in with a crucial block-tackle as the Royals striker pulled the trigger.

14 mins. McAnuff just ran 60 yards to chase down a long ball - and he wins a corner.

Argyle defend the first from bertrand but David Stockdale flaps at the second as Ingimarsson heads wide.

Bad news with Ipswich winning at QPR.

10 mins. As expected Ropyals target Plymouth's stand-in right-back David McNamee.

So for the Argyle player has stood up to the test.

The game's settled down now. Royals need to remain patient here.

5 mins. Cries of `handball' from the Reading fans after Kari Arnason made a mess of a clearance under pressure from Long.

Plymouth can't get out of their own half at the moment.

2 mins. Shane long's header is pushed out for a corner from Jobi mcAnuff's cross.

Royals waste the flag kick but promising.

8pm. We're underway and Argyle win a corner after 30 seconds. Royals defend it well.

7.55pm. And we're almost there as the the teams run out of the tunnel, Royals led by Ingimarsson, Argyle by Carl Fletcher.

The crowd looks a little disappointing but you can clearly hear shouts of `Green Army' coming from the Plymouth end.

There's a good few hundred travelling fans here as well which isn't bad for a midweek night game.

Maybe they're hoping to see their team match their 4-1 win against the Royals at Home Park in December.

That was the worst display under Brian McDermott by a long way.

But they've shown a big improvement since then and I fancy this could be another good night for Royals fans....

IT'S freezing, the lights are on and kick off isn't far away.

Royals look to make it three wins in a rownin the league for the first time since December 2008.

Brian McDermott's men have already beaten Barnsley at home and won away at Doncaster - now can they make it a triple whammy and take nine points from nine.

If Ipswich lose at QPR, then a win tonight would also take Royals out of the bottom three and leave Argyle cut adrift in 23rd position.

Because to call this a relegation six-pointer doesn't do it justice.

If Reading, currently 22nd and one point behind Ipswich, lose they will be dragged back right back into it.

Win and the future could be looking bright.

And the team news is in.

Reaing make two changes to the side which started in the 2-1 victory at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

Blackburn loan signing Zurab Khizanishvili makes his home debut in place of the suspended Matt Mills.

And striker Simon Church gets the nod in front of Jimmy Kebe as boss Brian McDeremott looks to revert back to 4-4-2, with in-form Shane Long also up front.

Plymouth, meanwhile, suffered an early blow when skipper Karl Duguid was ruled out after picking up an injury in their 1-0 home defeat by West Brom.

David McNamee starts at right-back instead but Royals will be eager to exploit a possible weakness there.

Reading: Federici - Griffin, Ingimarsson, Zhizanishvili, Bertrand - McAnuff, Karacan, Gunnarsson, Howard - Church, Long. Subs: Hamer, Cisse, Kebe, R-Kanu, Rasiak, Pearce, Thorvaldsson.

Plymouth: Stockdale - McNamee, Arnason, R.Johnson, Sawyer - Clark, D.Johnson, Fletcher, Judge - Mackie, Fallon. Subs not used: Larrieu, W-Phillips, Barker, Noone, Summerfield, Mason, Cooper.

The referee is Oliver Langford from the West Midlands.

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