Coca Cola Championship

Saturday 24th September 2005,

Carrow Road, 15:00pm Kick-Off

TEAM LINE-UP'S

Norwich City - Green, Colen (Fleming 86), Davenport, Doherty, Drury, McVeigh (Huckerby 62), Hughes, Safri, Brennan (Henderson 74), Ashton, Lisbie

Subs not used; Ward (GK), Marney

Reading - Hahnemann, Murty, Makin, , Sonko, Ingimarsson, Little, Convey, Harper, Gunnarsson, Lita (Obinha 79), Doyle

Subs not used; Federici (GK), Hunt, Oster, Cox

MATCH REVIEW

Reading secured a highly impressive away success at Norwich City thanks to a single second half goal from James Harper. The Royals were forced to hang on towards the end and survived an injury time penalty miss to take all three points back down south and consolidate second place in the table behind leaders Sheffield United.

Reading started much the brighter of the two teams earning a number of early corners which unfortunately came to nothing. However as the half progressed the home side came more and more into the game having the majority of the possession. However it was hard to see how Norwich survived till the last day before being relegated from the Premiership last season. For all their possession they created very little.

Former Royal, Andy Hughes who was deputising as captain for the Canaries was pulling the strings from the midfield looking to break down Reading's watertight defence. Hughes was booked later on in the half for a foul on Bobby Convey.

The best opening of the half fell to The Royals and Glen Little who was put through after a smart counter-attack but the former Burnley player saw his effort well saved by Robert Green, Little attempted to chip the ball over Green as the keeper went to ground but Green reacted well and parried the ball away for a Reading corner.

The second half again saw Norwich have more possession then The Royals but again found themselves frustrated with the lack of goal scoring opportunities. And Reading made them pay as with half an hour of the game remaining good work by Kevin Doyle to outmuscle Davenport set up a chance for James Harper whose initial shot was blocked but the midfielders second effort found the bottom corner of Robert Green's net to give Reading the lead.

Norwich enjoyed large amounts of the ball in the last half an hour and introduced Darren Huckerby to try and get back in the game but apart from a Dean Ashton effort that went sailing over Marcus Hahnemann's bar Norwich showed very little cutting edge in front of goal.

However as the game moved into injury time Norwich won a hotly disputed penalty after Bobby Convey was judged to have tripped Davenport inside the box. The referee at first booked Davenport for diving before consulting with his linesman that had flagged for a penalty. The referee changed his mind and gave the penalty. Dean Ashton stepped up but he fired his penalty wide. Reading survived the remaining three minutes of injury time to take another fantastic three points.

Man Of The Match - Brnyjar Gunnarsson
Attendance - 23,850

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID

Steve Coppell, Reading Manager

On the bizarre penalty decision;

"I suppose I want to say it was a poetic justice [that he missed], but I don't know whether I should.

"I didn't see the challenge because I was looking to see who was marking who in the middle. When the ref gave a free kick our way I just thought the decision was final.

"It then collapsed into chaos when the decision was overturned, and whether the decision was right or not, the ref's power has been diminished.

"It's not a committe job out there, and the ref was as close as the linesman. The decision-making process was wrong, no matter whether it was a penalty or not. Anyway that's enough said on that."

On the great 1-0 result;

"The first half was like sparring, both teams were cagey and not a lot happened. We had the best chance with Glen Little.

"I was pleased with the defending in the first half, and from then on it was always going to be about who would push on. We got the goal from a break and it was always going to be a question of hanging on. Boy, did we hang on!

"The three minutes of injury time at the end of the game were the longest three minutes I've ever seen. I would've been interested to have a clock."

Nigel Worthington, Norwich City Manager;

On the 1-0 defeat;

"It's a fine line. I was pleased with the performance, we've passed the ball, created chances and unfortunately haven't taken them. On a good day we'd put a couple in.

"We have good players, spirit and work ethic which has been with us for the last five and a half years."

On Dean Ashton's penalty miss and possible concussion;

"I stand by him 100%. He got a nasty bang on the head and he wanted to stay on. Unfortunately for him and for us he didn't put the penalty away but bigger and better players have done the same."

The Royals are back on the road this Wednesday evening when we make the short trip down South to face Southampton at St Mary's Stadium. PLEASE NOTE THIS GAME IS A SELL OUT FOR READING FOOTBALL CLUB SUPPORTERS.

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