Long rues `10 minutes of madness'

Anthony Smith • Published 9 Mar 2010 10:00 0 Comments

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SHANE LONG admitted Reading were punished for "10 minutes of madness" that cost them a place in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley.

Long scored twice to give Royals a dream 2-0 lead over Aston Villa in their first quarter final for 83 years.

But Martin O'Neill's Premier League outfit turned the tie on its head by scoring three times in 10 second-half minutes at a sell-out Madejski Stadium.

Ashley Young struck just 90 seconds after the restart then John Carew netted on 51 and 56 minutes to put the visitors 3-2 up.

And while Brian MCDermott's men threatened several times to make it 3-3, Carew completed his hat-trick with an injury-time penalty to seal a 4-2 victory for the Midlands side who will face Chelsea in the semis.

However, Long could not hide his bitter disappointment at missing out on the showpiece occasion.

"To do so well in the first half and come so close is really disappointing," admitted the Republic of Ireland striker, who has scored six goals in his last five appearances. "There were 10 minutes of madness when it all slipped away from us.

"But I think we can hold our heads high. Aston Villa are a great side and I hope they go on and win the competition which would show just how close we came.

"We came in at half-time 2-0 up. We had to get through the first 10 or 15 minutes after the break because we knew Villa would come at us.

"But they got the goals and I think we were a bit unlucky. Everyone played well but when our heads were down we should have picked ourselves up.

"It wasn't to be but it was a good run in the cup I suppose."

Long denied the writing was on the wall when Young gave Villa a lifeline so early in the second period.

"When they got their first goal I wasn't thinking `oh no.' We were still in the lead and had something to hold on to.

"I don't really know what happened. Villa gave two big centre forwards and they caused us trouble.

"But it's so disappointing. I think we all want to rewind and play that second half again. As I say, 10 or 15 minutes of madness and it's all gone."

Long justified his manager's faith with another deadly brace on his return to the side from a four-match ban.

"Personally I thought I did okay and it was nice to score two goals because I knew I wouldn't get many chances against the likes of Richard Dunne and James Collins.

"Thankfully when the chances came I managed to put them away.

"We're disappointed but there have been some great moments in the cup. We've never really had a good run before and at half time we were thinking `this is our year.'

"So to have it robbed away from us is hard to take, but we'll get over it and be ready for Derby County on Wednesday."

Reading's best cup run since 1927 when they lost to eventual winners Cardiff City in the semi-finals has undoubtedly sparked a dramatic improvement in their league form.

Royals have won five of their last six league games but are only one points above the relegation zone ahead of three successive home games starting with Derby County at Madejski Stadium tomorrow night (Wednesday, 8pm)

"Everyone is looking at the table saying we've got two games in hand," added Long. But we've got to win those games to make a difference.

"We've been playing very well lately so we need to take that into Wednesday. We need to put the cup disappointment behind us and kick on in the league.

"We can look at the cup run and think it may have turned our league season around. We had a few good wins in the cup then started winning games in the Championship. The confidence came back into the squad."

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