Church: My goal was for Speed

Reading striker Simon Church has dedicated his goal against Peterborough United on Tuesday night, to late Wales legend Gary Speed who took his own life on Sunday last week.

The 22-year old was a regular in Gary Speed’s squad along with fellow Royal Hal Robson-Kanu and would have been very upset with the passing of the Welsh footballing legend.

Church told the ReadingChronicle: ‘It was good timing because I wanted to score on the night and it was a great result for us in the end. It was a shock to everyone and it’s a massive loss to everyone in football.’

The goal was eventually credited to Church when it looked he just about got the final touch from a header from Jimmy Kebe. He added: ‘It was definitely my goal, I don’t know where that came from.’

‘It was massive for us to win. We wanted to build on the Ipswich victory at the weekend and the challenge for us now is to make it three wins in a row.’