Royals Back On Track

The Royals returned to winning ways this past weekend as they willingly marred Lawrie Sanchez`s first game with the rains of a Premiership club and condemned his newly acquired Fulham side to a second defeat of the season at the hands of Berkshire`s finest.

A solitary Stephen Hunt strike was enough to overcome Sanchez, who got the better of the likes of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Luis Aragones whilst in charge of Northern Ireland. Everybody who`s everybody in the English game knows however, that our own Steve Coppell is a master in every possible sense of the word, and this task would not be so rewarding for the former Royals star.

Sanchez started his playing career at Reading before making his name with the famous Wimbledon ‘Crazy Gang`, but his ex-club did not do his relegation battlers any favours despite being assured of their own Premiership futures. Instead, the hard-fought three points mean that European qualification is still not entirely out of the season`s final question.

Three changes were made to the team that took a point from Charlton earlier in the week, with Brynjar Gunnarsson drafted into the centre of midfield following Coppell`s recent conclusion that Steve Sidwell will probably not be a part of his plans for next season.

Dave Kitson and Kevin Doyle were reunited as the spear-head of the side, as Leroy Lita started his three match suspension for giving Charlton`s El Karkouri a delicate peck on the cheek, and the recently impressive Shane Long took up a more familiar place on the bench.

It was Doyle who had the game`s first notable chance as he failed to convert Stephen Hunt`s corner at the back post. The Irishman struggled to manoeuvre the ball from under his feet, and eventually poked wide from close range.

A corner at the opposite end of the field almost proved pivotal from the visitors as the ball fortunately fell to Brian McBride, but his eventual shot was smothered by his compatriot, Marcus Hahnemann, in the Reading goal.

Seol Ki-Hyeon, unsurprisingly enjoying himself once again as the sun shone, played a pass that simply oozed world class quality from the right hand side with twelve on the clock. The South-Korean international, who has been somewhat left in the dark as of late, cut inside Franck Queudrue from his position on the flank and stroked a truly outstanding ball into the path of the advancing Gunnarsson on the over-lap.

The pass alone deserved to end with a goal, and with Dave Kitson well-positioned for a comfortable tap-in on the Fulham six-yard line, a strike seemed inevitable. Instead, the Icelandic Gunnarsson opted for a shot, and it took a decent save from the dependable Antti Niemi to thwart a brilliant attacking move which should have seen the Royals into the lead.

Ian Pearce then missed a glorious chance to punish the home side for their own inability to take the lead. The defender, who although leaning back, did extremely well to somehow find the stands when he lifted over from only a matter of yards after Brian McBride`s headed flick-on.

A minute later, however, the deadlock was breached. Seol was again involved with a piece of wizardry that has been missing since before the Christmas period. The winger received the ball after Dave Kitson had hassled Carlos Bocanegra inside the box. The Korean turned his marker before finding Kevin Doyle just beyond the near post. The Irishman turned quickly and fired a low ball across the face, which his fellow countryman Stephen Hunt duly turned home.

The Royals quickly looked for a second, and another Seol cross from the right almost found the head of Kitson but Niemi did well to claim the centre.

Pearce had held the Fulham defence together in the face of Reading pressure but was forced off in the 26th minute when the foot injury he suffered last month appeared to flare up.

Zat Knight came on and Fulham’s new-look defence needed to guard against conceding a second.

Queudrue was caught in possession by Seol, with Niemi forced to tip over after Gunnarsson met the Reading winger’s cross.

Hunt maintained Reading’s threat with two volleys that went wide and there was a penalty shout against Michael Brown when he raised his hands to the ball, yet Fulham finished the half with a flourish.

Queudrue’s powerful long-range volley landed on the roof of the net, while Diop had a header ruled out for offside when it appeared that it was a team-mate beyond the final defender.

Seol curled an effort over early in the second half, while the visitors had a tame penalty shout when Routledge went over in the area.

Fulham struggled to break down the hosts, with the fans calling for the introduction of Vincenzo Montella, and the frustration was illustrated by Heidar Helguson’s booking for dissent as he threatened to attack the linesman with a bottle-carrier in hand.

Davies appealed for another penalty when his shot was blocked by Seol, and the Welshman then ran through but has his effort saved by Hahnemann.

Davies was then taken off for Clint Dempsey and Montella came on for Helguson, with Fulham looking for a different approach in attack.

Brown forced Hahnemann into a save with a low drive but it was the hosts who looked more likely to add to the scoring, with Doyle getting a goal ruled out for offside. Brown then hit the bar in stoppage time with a curling effort from just outside the area.