Federici`s Bright Future

Wasn`t Adam Federici an enormous pleasure to watch on Saturday? The youthful Australian really fell on his feet getting into the team this season, and it makes it all the more sweeter that he is proving to be a diamond in between the sticks.

Federici found himself promoted to Reading`s no2 choice after Graham Stack went out on loan to Leeds and since then he has established himself as a real hot prospect for the future.

Since watching him against Burnley in the 3rd round of the FA Cup I have developed a soft spot for him, and I`d hope to see him pulling on the no.1 jersey on a permanent basis in the not so distant future.

His distribution is great, his reflexes and shot stopping abilities are terrific and he has pulled out some incredible saves when it looked like an imminent goal, just like when Henrik Larsson seemed to have settled the game in the 80th minute:

“To be honest I didn`t think I was going to save it. It was the highlight of the night for me. I just managed to get a finger to it,” Explained Federici.

Obviously as quite a young keeper he is still susceptible to the odd mistake this was seen in Akinyibi`s second goal against Reading in Burnley`s 3-2 defeat, but he is proving there is a lot to him and I for one hope he has a bright future at the club.

That is if his contract is renewed by Reading, at the moment the Australian under-21s international is working on a year rolling contract basis but I should think after Saturday`s cup heroics against Man Utd the youngster will be snapped up.

Steve Coppell was full of praise for the big stopper so I think we shall see him sign on a longer basis very soon:

“Adam is a big unit to get round and potentially, Australia’s next goalkeeper.

‘He has been with us for a couple of years now and grown in stature week by week. He is very ambitious, very determined and relentless in training.

‘He will be very proud and I am sure his family in Australia will be very proud of the way he has performed today.’

I think Federici has secured himself the no2 slot as Marcus Hahnemann`s understudy at Reading and will be pushing hard to be the first team keeper give or take a season or two.

Federici will get another chance to shine in the replay against United at the Madejski Stadium a week Tuesday, if he is a super stopper again Federici and the rest of the Reading boys may get a cup dream come true?