Drawing, Drawing Reading

A second successive 0-0 draw and a fifth successive draw in total, pretty much sums up a dull afternoon at the Madejski Stadium! This game won`t live long in the memory….

There is no real need to write match reports these days it`s always the same bloody thing. You can sum up most of our games this season with the following few words, it certainly was enough for this game – We created a few chances, Shane Long missed them, we worked hard but lacked the killer instinct in front of goal. Meh!

Not even the returning Jimmy Kebe could have an impact on this encounter, he returned to the right wing and set up the best chance of the game but of course Long failed to convert. Both teams hit the woodwork a couple of times but in truth this was a battle of two lower to mid table teams, although that might be slightly harsh on Coventry who are much improved shamble that came to the Mad Stad near the end of last season.

With Mills returning at the back and Kizhanishvili dropped we still looked solid and never really likely to concede a goal, that is at least one positive we can take from recent weeks. Our problems lie in midfield and upfront. Kebe needs time to get his match fitness back and on his day he is by far our best player, sadly this was not his day. It`s the rest that bother me, Leigertwood is good at breaking up play but surely we need more from a central midfielder? Karacan is not much better and the likely hood of those two creating anything is slim to none. Jay Tabb and Brian Howard were sat on the bench twiddling their thumbs though, remember they were our first choice pairing last season when we played with such confidence and scored a number of goals – even with Long upfront! Take the hint McDermott. As for McAnuff, he promises so much but has delivered to little for so long. When Hal Robson Kanu is your direct replacement on the bench though there is not much need to raise your game that often, he certainly won`t deliver much more.

I don`t want to lay into Long, or Noel Hunt for that matter, and I can see both of them forming decent partnerships with another striker just not with each other. They work hard and I love that but we need goals. Hunt came out earlier in the week and said he hopes to score 10 goals this season – 10? Ok so it`s always wise to offer little, and deliver more, but we need far more than that. As for Long`s record of 4 goals (3 pens) from 19 games is awful and at any other side in this division near enough he would have been dropped by now, then again we don`t have anyone to replace him. Simon Church I hear you ask? Please, don`t start on that one….

Anyway I can`t wait for Derby next week, honest!