Alfie clinches late victory for Royals
Sportsdesk • Published 14 Jan 2012 19:30
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Watford 1 - 2 Reading
READING striker Adam Le Fondre stepped off the bench to secure a vital victory at Watford with his first touch.
A Shaun Cummings own goal gifted the Hornets a 28th minute lead only for Jimmy Kebe to level four minutes before the break.
And pint-sized predator Le Fondre sealed the points moments after coming on with a skillful 84th minute winner at Vicarage Road.
It was Le Fondre's first goal in eight games for Brian McDermott's men as Reading ended a run of back-to-back league and cup defeats.
The win also cemented fifth place for Royals in the Championship table in the day's televised evening fixture.
Reading have now won seven of their last nine league games and McDermott said: "There's a fantastic spirit here and a great will to win.
"I was disappointed Watford went in front because they hadn't done much. But it was a fantastic equaliser from Jimmy Kebe and a top finish from Adam Le Fondre.
"I always believe we can get ourselves back into games and for us to win at Vicarage Road, which is a tough place to come, is terrific."
Royals made three changes to the side which was dumped out fo the FA Cup by League One Stevenage a week earlier.
Skipper and former Hornet Jobi McAnuff plus Mikele Leigertwood were both ruled out through injury, with Kebe and Jem Karacan coming back in.
Hunt also got the nod ahead of Le Fondre up front as McDermott continues to search for his strongest front line.
McDermott's men started well with Hunt heading narrowly wide before the Irishman's penalty appeals for a possible nudge in the back were turned down.
Former Tottenham man Mark Yeates hit back for the hosts when he fired wide - only for Royals to gift Watford the lead shortly after.
Troy Deeney was sent scampering away and, while his cross was too strong for Marvin Sordell, Cummings was spooked enough to stick out a foot, diverting the ball past a helpless Adam Federici.
But McDermott's men took just 13 minutes to level through Kebe, much to Watford's frustrations.
The out-of-contract winger stole in at the back post to beat Scott Loach with a clinical header from Hal Robson-Kanu's cross.
To rub salt into Hornet's wounds, Robson-Kanu was lucky to escape with just a yellow five minutes earlier for a nasty lunge at Yeates, with the home crowd screaming for a red.
Referee Graham Salisbury certainly showed leniency, and he did the same midway through the second half when Craig Forsyth went in studs-up on Karacan, but escaped with a booking.
Not only that, the same Watford player could have picked up a second booking within a minute for fouling Kebe only for Salisbury to keep his cards in his pocket.
To Reading's credit, they got on with their business and never looked like relinquishing the lead from there on.
After Hunt had seen his second penalty appeal of the game waved away, Le Fondre made no mistake with an improvised, back-post strike after Ian Harte's corner had been flicked on by Hunt.
It was Watford's first home loss in the league since October, leaving Reading to prepare for a crunch six-pointer next Saturday when they host promotion-rivals Hull City at Madejski Stadium.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 14 Jan 12
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