McDermott blames Cobblers calamity on defence

Anthony Smith • Published 25 Aug 2010 01:00 2 Comments

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READING boss Brian McDermott lambasted his side's defending after crashing out of the Carling Cup to Northampton Town 4-2 on penalties.

Royals were in front three times in a Mad Stad epic but were unable to hold on against the impressive League Two Cobblers..

Matt Mills summed up a bizarre night for Reading with two goals, the second of which in the 113th minute looked certain to send the hosts through.

But with the last play of a pulsating second round tie, Mills diverted a Michael Jacobs cross into his own net to level it up at 3-3.

Much earlier, Mills gave McDermott's side a 16th minute lead with a cheeky finish from Brian Howard's pin-point free-kick, only for goalkeeper Ben Hamer to inexplicably drop the ball twice in the build-up to Andy Holt's equaliser four minutes later.

Hal Robson-Kanu put Royals' noses in front again with his first of the season on the hour mark, but that lead lasted a mere two minutes as Hamer pushed a cross into the path of Kevin Thornton who made no mistake for 2-2.

Even then, Royals looked certain to book their place in the third round when Mills' thumping header in extra time saw them lead for the third time.

And they were agonisingly close to making it 4-2 at the very death when Shane Long's strong penalty appeal was somehow turned down by referee Roger East after Brian Howard's effort smacked off a post.

The hosts could have won another penalty in the first half when Julian Kelly was tripped by Billy McKay right under East's nose. That too, was rejected.

Yet Royals' back four and Hamer looked vulnerable all night to Northampton's blend of pace, guile and power - a fact not helped by the loss of right-back Julian Kelly to injury in the second-half.

In fairness, most expected East to blow his whistle when Williams gave a free-kick away with second left.

But when Royals switched off and the equaliser flew in off the unfortunate Mills, the writing was on the wall.

Long and Robson-Kanu tucked their penalties away nicely, but Simon Church's saw his saved and Jacob Taylor missed allowing Abdul Osman to grab the glory for Northampton.

McDermott summed up Royals' bitter frustrations: "We are very, very disappointed,” he fumed. “Three goals against us is not good enough at home, it's inexcusable and we have to be better.

"I picked a team I thought would win - and we should have won. We were in front three times, you can't go in front three times and not win the game.

"Having said that the referee missed an absolutely stonewall penalty at the end. I've seen it again, it was a certain penalty, he was going to score and he was brought down.

“He also came up with four minutes of extra time at the end, I think he was going to blow when Marcus Williams gave the foul away but didn't, it was a strange performance from him.

“But that doesn't forgive the fact we've conceded three goals at home in a game we should have won."

And he admitted: "We're all dejected, myself, the players and the fans will be as well. If you look at our team, there was experience all over the pitch.

“We were booed by our own fans and we've never been close to that. I told them they need to make it up to them.

“I could understand the reaction, I just wanted to make sure at least we went through.

“At 3-2 we should have done that, with seconds to go. We've gone out and we have a very bitter taste in the mouth. All we can do is look forward to Leicester on Saturday.”

However, Reading's injury list continues to hamper their progress with Jem Karacan, Antonio and Kelly joining Jay Tabb, Andy Griffin, Ivar Ingimarsson among others in the treatment room.

Reading (4-4-2): Hamer - Kelly (Taylor 50), Mills ©, Pearce, Williams - Antonio (Kebe 46), Karacan, Howard, Robson-Kanu - Church, Hunt (Long 93) Subs not used: Federici; Gunnarsson, McAnuff, Sigurdsson Booked: Mills 23, Howard 25.

Northampton (4-5-1): Jansson - Rodgers, Beckwith, Holt (c), Hall, - Herbert (Jacobs 64), Wedderburn, Thornton, Osman, McKay (Guinan 83) - Purcell (Konstantinou 109). Subs not used: Walker, Harris, Death, Slowe. Booked: Purcell 107, Guinan 120.

Attendance: 6,986 (Northampton 644)

Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire).

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 25 Aug 10

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

Sir Dodger Royal
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Aug 25, 08:29
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Reading clearly do not have a plan B. Our midget strikers run around aimlessly achieving little.I believe Mills (Centre Half) is now probably top scorer! Raziak has gone and the defence is a shambles and our tactics now appear to be a hoofball to the opposition.

Of course we can blame the Madman but there is no point is asking where the money has gone. It is clear to all that the answers do not stack up. Also the Madman has no intentions of selling the Club at a sensible price. He can obviously recall personal loans, which he has no doubt done to support other business ventures. If he is not prepared to invest then maybe fans should now start boycotting any additional expenditure at the Club.

Apart from 2/3 first team players who are injured then during the game most of out main players were on the pitch. Admittedly doing very little. Our goalkeepers are a complete joke. Williams was skinned all night by their Number 15 until he went off injured. Did anyone have a good games? Not from where I was sitting. We were playing a second division team who have yet to win a match at that level.

Donut has his limitations and is just one of Madman's poodle and will only spout the party line. Most of which he knows is complete rubbish. Where do we go from here? New Players? Unlikely. What about three points at Lesicester? Unlikely.

Bottom four by this Sunday. Extremely likely. Real Facts from the Main Man. You know it makes sense.

Sir Dodger.

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The Whistler
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Aug 26, 20:14
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After the excitement and promise of the second half of last season, the most prevalent feelings of the Reading faithful these days seem to be frustration and disappointment after another poor start to a season. The fear is it could be over before it's hardly started.

With the exception of the Pardew and Coppel eras and a few other brief periods of hope, those of us who have supported The Biscuitman and the Royals for decades (in my case since the 50's) could write chapter and verse on those two emotions.

The rumblings of discontent about the manager and the chairman, are an understandable consequence of that frustration, although to my mind, the insulting remarks are uncalled for and self defeating. The manager can only work with what he's given and it's too easy to forget that without JM Reading would not have seen those glory seasons, and may have ceased to exist or fallen into the hands of that nice Mr. Maxwell and been merged with Oxford to become Redox Rovers or something.

My criticism is the apparent lack of coherent planning and forsight at the club currently. Relegation from the premiership was to an extent the result of the failure to strengthen and freshen up a squad starting to look stale. One or two decent new players (not on massive wages and maybe on loan) in the January, and who knows?

The cost of that mistake has now come home to roost. The money in the Premiership is rocketing and relegated teams are coming down awash with compensation payments that are on the way to creating the same have and have not situation in the Championship.

We all appreciate that money is tight, and the fans are not expecting miracles. No wants Reading to go into administration (although owing money to all and sundry does not seem a problem to Cardiff and a few other clubs) but we seem to be being softened up for the loss of more key players next week, when we already have no-one who can put the ball in the net and our defence has more holes than Compo's vest.

If we use teams like Charton as our model, and constantly sell our best players we will fall so far off the pace, there will be no way back.

If Reading FC is serious about staying competitive in the Championship, let alone returning to the Premiership, there must be a development plan that involves something more than talking big and hoping for the best. If not the spiral of ever falling gates and shrinking turnover is inevitable. Football clubs are in the entertainment business, with limitless competition for punters hard earned cash. There has to be something to get people hooked; something more than mediocrity and the usual cliched interviews to the local media. Even our results are becoming hard to find in the national papers.

The fairy tale of last season may not be repeated if we are in the bottom four this Christmas.

The Whistler

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