Published: Wednesday, 17th March, 2010 1:00am

McDermott's `fortunate' Royals triumph in hoops derby

by Anthony Smith

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BRIAN McDermott suggested Reading were lucky to beat Queens Park Rangers 1-0 on a night of raw emotion at the Madejski Stadium.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's dramatic 86th minute penalty against Neil Warnock's 10-man Rangers made it six home wins in a row in the league for McDermott's resurgent men who have now taken a staggering 24 points from a possible 27.

But there were bizarre scenes at the final whistle with defender Matt Mills brushing coach Nigel Gibbs aside and sprinting down the tunnel without acknowledging the fans.

Mills was apparently jeered by a section of Royals supporters as the team struggled to make their numerical advantage count after Rangers saw Damion Stewart sent off late in the first-half.

The criticism appeared to get to the 23-year-old centre-back who later politely declined a Chronicle interview and the opportunity to put forward his side of the story.

But all in all that was a mere sideshow in a fiercely contested hoops derby which Rangers arguably dominated until Stewart's dumb red card.

The burly defender stupidly blocked Adam Federici as the Royals keeper tied to launch a punt down the pitch with only seconds to go until the break,

It resulted in a second yellow from referee Gavin Ward, much to Warnock's disgust.

It was a mindless act given Stewart had been booked 14 minutes earlier for colliding with Shane Long.

And Royals eventually eased frazzled nerves when Sigurdsson converted from the spot for his 13th of the season.

McDermott said: "I thought it was a good game. There were two honest sides both having a real go and we were fortunate to get the result.

"The crowd were getting frustrated. We were playing against a resilient side and it is not going to be easy to break them down but we saw it out in the end.

"We have won eight out of nine now. It wasn't the most beautiful game of football but we got the result and that was what it was all about."

The victory moved Royals above QPR and Bristol City to 14th in the table and within sight of the play-offs.

But while McDermott remains unbeaten in a Championship match at the Madejski Stadium, this was Warnock's first defeat as Rangers boss - and boy did Reading fans let him know.

Ironically, Warnock was the last visiting manager to win a league game at the Mad Stad when his Crystal Palace side triumphed 4-2 in early December.

And he argued Stewart's red card badly hurt his team's chances of leaving Berkshire with three points again.

"You can say the red card cost us," he said.

"We were the better side with 11 men. We defended really well. Damion's first booking is never a booking in a million years. He never took his eye off the ball.

"But the second one was his own fault. What was the goalkeeper going to do other than kick the ball?

"He must have launched 100 kicks tonight so it was silly and he let his mates down."

Reading started strongly but were soon under pressure with Kaspars Gorkss and one-time target Tamas Priskin going close for Rangers.

Federici also made a crucial save from Jay Simpson to keep the scores level.

But when Stewart got his marching orders the hosts regained their belief.

Jimmy Kebe and Shane Long threatened to break the deadlock then Sigurdsson and former Rangers winger Jobi McAnuff saw powerful shots cleared off the Rangers line.

Then, as frustrations grew, Sigurdsson tricked his way into the box and went down under a clumsy Hill challenge earning the unfortunate Palace right-back a yellow and a tongue-lashing from his irate manager.

Sigurdsson smashed the spot-kick past Ikeme for his 13th of the season, making it three goals in two games following a brace against Bristol City on Saturday.

Warnock fumed: "At Liverpool it's a penalty, at Reading it's a penalty.

"If you leave your foot out as a defender, you are inviting the foul.

"I thought it was the wrong decision but 90 per cent of referees would give it.

"But we had four or five opportunities when we could have gone down and you wonder whether I have to coach my players to go down."

Reading (4-4-1-1): Federici - Griffin, Ingimarsson ©, Mills, Bertrand - Mcanuff, Tabb, Howard (Rasiak 61), Kebe - Sigurdsson - Long (Church 68). Subs not used: Hamer, Gunnarsson, Matejovsky, Robson-Kanu, Khizanishvili. Yellow cards: Rasiak 90.

QPR (4-4-1-1): Ikeme - Connolly, Stewart, Gorkss, Hill - Priskin (German 87), Leigertwood, Faurlin, Ephraim - Taarabt (Ramage 81) - Simpson. Subs not used: Vine, Borrowdale, Cook, Buzsaky, Cerny. Yellow cards: Stewart 30, 44, Faurlin 34, Leigertwood 75, Hill 86. Red card: Stewart 44.

Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey).

Attendance: 16,886 (QPR 2,024).