Coca Cola Championship ,

Saturday 20th August 2005,

Madejski Stadium, 15:00pm Kick-Off

TEAM LINE-UP'S

Reading - Hahnemann, Murty, Shorey, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Convey (Hunt 57), Little (Oster 80), Harper, Sidwell, Kitson (Doyle 61), Lita

Subs not used; Stack (GK), Makin

Millwall - Marshall, Dunne, Vincent, Phillips, Lawrence (Robinson 15), Livermore, Morris, Igoe, Simpson (Serioux 45), May, Hayles (Elliott 23)

Subs not used; Hutchinson, Fangueiro

MATCH REVIEW

Reading hit Millwall for five as The Royals moved to top of the Championship while Millwall's problems continued. The Lions have endured a difficult start to the season both on and off the field and as Colin Lee thought it could not get much worse, he was to be proved wrong as a mixture of bad luck and poor defending from his Millwall side led to a comfortable afternoon for The Royals team.

Steve Coppell's side remained unchanged after the fantastic 3:0 demolition of Preston North End last Saturday.

Millwall started the game positively with Reading unable to create many openings. However things changed as from a Millwall corner Bobby Convey hit the visitors on the brake, picking up the ball in his own half Convey beat two Millwall players before keeping cool and slotting the ball past Andy Marshall.

The Lions were unlucky not to equalise straight after as Hahnemann was forced into an excellent save to deny Ben May from a header. Millwall then lost their captain Matt Lawrence to injury and then just before the half hour mark a short back pass to the Millwall keeper forced Marshall into a weak clearance picked up by Lita who immediately hit a shot which was heading for the open goal only for Marshall to save the shot with his hands outside the box. The referee was left with no choice but to show Millwall's number one a straight red. And with no substitute keeper outfield player, Mark Phillips took the goalkeeper jersey.

His first thing job was to pick the ball out of the net from the corresponding free kick which was converted by Convey for his second of the game.

Phillips was clearly struggling in goal and was part to blame for Reading's third, the deputising keeper failed to deal with a Glen Little cross with the ball eventually finding the head of James Harper whose header crept under the bar to make it 3:0.

The scoring was not finished there for the first half as Reading were awarded a penalty for a handball by ex Reading midfielder Sammy Igoe. Royals supporters were calling for Bobby Convey to be given the chance to complete his hat trick but Dave Kitson was having none of it as he stepped up and his penalty crept under the body of Phillips to make it 4:0

The second half saw Reading take their foot of the gas as they failed to test Millwall's third keeper of the day Adrian Serioux for the first 20 minutes of second half. Serioux came on as a sub to take over the goalkeeping duties from Phillips who had a forgettable stint in the Millwall goal. Reading's first effort on goal in the second 45 minutes saw the last goal of the game. From a corner Steve Sidwell headed home.

Late on Leroy Lita was unlucky not to get on the score sheet only to see his ambitious long-range effort superbly saved by Serioux.

Man Of The Match - Bobby Convey
Attendance - 14,225

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID

Steve Coppell, Reading Manager

"In the first few minutes I thought we were really poor and I was going to have a dig at the players. We started terribly and from their corner Bobby scored a terrific goal. Even after he'd broken through that 1 Vs 1 is a hard skill when you've run 70 yards already."

"An English Season is an awful long time, with all weathers and dodgy pitches.

"It was one of those freak games. The referee had no alternative but send their keeper off, it would have been a goal, and then it was just a freak day."

"The second half was laboured. We were just trying to pass it round which doesn't suit us.

"Serioux was a better keeper and he made one great save from Leroy, but we must have gone 20 minutes without putting in a shot or cross to test him."

"I'm glad to have nine points but I prefer not to even look at the table. We've got to get a certain number of points before we're safe, and then we go from there. That's my mentality.

"Is this a short run of form or is it a foundation for a season that has something at the end of it. The indications are we're doing well at the moment, but all we can say now is so far so good. We'll be tested along the way.

"It's my job to keep pushing, pushing, pushing, and not let any element of complacency enter our thinking."

"You can't be successful with one scorer, and it's hard enough with two, but if you have goals coming from lots of different people, you do increase your chances.

"Last season teams more or less said 'If you keep Kitson quiet you can keep them quiet' It's great if you can have plans B, C, D and E."

Colin Lee, Millwall Manager

"I certainly won't be sleeping tonight so I will be analysing every kick of that game. My family won't want me around tomorrow, so it's probably a good thing that I am going into work with the players.

"It certainly was a very strange afternoon, but in spite of the sending off of Andy Marshall, we still conceded some bad goals.

"I'll be sitting down with the players and we will be analysing what went wrong. As far as the goalkeeping situation is concerned, this afternoon's events just go to prove that you can't afford to not to have a goalkeeper on the bench.

"I have been trying to get another keeper in, and now that need has come even more pressing. There were some plus points to come out of the game, not least the performance of Ben May, who I thought was outstanding.

"We also created some very good chances in the opening quarter of an hour, but when you have opportunities like that you have to put them away."   

The Royals are back in action this Tuesday when we welcome Swansea City back to the Madejski Stadium for the 1st Round of the Carling Cup. Kick off is at 20:00pm.

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