[St Charles Owl]

Nice instinctive goal from Hooper, just what we need!! I thought it looked a definite penalty but it was clumsy, it looked like Loovens maybe got his studs stuck in the pitch as he slid in? For all the possession they had we seemed to still have the better chances. FF should have scored with that chance that looped over the bar, that would have made it 2-0 and possibly killed them off. For their goal it's one of those situations you see so often, attacker jumping for the ball while running towards it and defender jumping from a static, standing position, the attacker will always get higher in those circumstances!!

[Imre varadi]

Again i ask someone who went ? was the pitch shit ? the ball was bouncing everywhere in the goal mouth ? i sure Forest would have buried that on a normal pitch !!

[peiowl]

Just wathced the Highlights . and what i saw was that was never a penalty although it was quite clumsy from loovens  and we could have won by 3 if it had not been for bad luck hitting the post and the ball bouncing everywhere   was the pitch bad  the **** ref was   we played quite well in patches again but **** me our central defenders cost us the goal and could have cost us the game in the end   loovens gave them a free header from a corner , which should never happen if your the center back   and then sasso thought well if the captains doing it then i will aswell   

Still i see we played well enough to win   we need a shake up though for saturday some players need a rest and others need to show cc why he bothers sitting them on the bench   Helan and joao need to snatch this oportunity with both hands and possibly it will be a first start for our new lb . but what worries me is that shrewsbury will obviously fight hard for the ball because thats all they can do ! will joao be up for a scrap  it could go either way ? he will either shine for his talent or he will get knocked clean out   if ever ive seen a player that needs to eat yorkshires puddings for breakfast dinner and tea its him 

we must start nuhiu for this game.

[Imre varadi]

Bit upset at consilio no xxxx match report ??? ms obviously isnt feeling well ? sort it out someone this site is dieing for news !! and if you went thurny you little xxxx then hang your head in shame !!

[madsteve]

Two Points Lost?

CC started with the same set up as against Leeds with Westwood replacing Price in goal. I feared that we would play 442 & have a bad first half like we did against Leeds. As it turned out, we dominated & the opening 15 minutes was probably as good as we have played all season. Bannan hit the post, Hooper fired us in front as we created great opportunities. We were playing virtually 352 with Hunt & Pudil playing almost as wingers with Hutchinson playing between the two CBs.

Out of the blue, Reading got a penalty when Loovens dallied on the ball and by the time he tried to clear, the striker had got in ahead of him and he brought him down. Fortunately he failed to convert and we kept our lead.

Gradually we fell deeper and 352 became 442 or 532. Hunt & Pudil got forward less and less and Wallace & Bannan spent more & more playing as auxilliary full backs. Despite this we still came closest to scoring before half time when Hooper made something from nothing and forced the keeper into a scrambling save.

Reading were dominating possession but never tested Westwood. It should have been 2-0 when Lee picked out FF beautifully but his shot was deflected over the bar by a defender. Joao replaced FF and Reading equalised a couple of minutes later. Haven't seen the goal on TV but it seemed like a free header. That was the only effort that Westwood had to save all afternoon.

At the death, Reading had a free header from six yards but the striker fluffed it.

Westwood - 5
Hunt - 6
Loovens - 6
Sasso - 6
Pudil - 6
Hutchinson - 6
Lee - 6
Wallace - 5
Bannan - 6
FF - 6
Hooper - 7
............................
Joao - 5
Helan - 5
Nuhiu - 4

Stat Attack:

Goals: 1 - Hooper

Assists: 1 - Lee

Tackles: 4 - Pudil, 3 - Hunt, Lee, Hutchinson, 2 - Loovens, Hooper, Helan, 1 - Sasso, Bannan

Interceptions: 5 - Loovens, 4 - Sasso, Hutchinson, 3 - Lee, 2 - Hunt, Pudil, Helan,

Clearances: 11 - Loovens, 5 - Sasso, Hutchinson, 4 - Hunt, 3 - Pudil, 2 - Bannan, 1 - Wallace, Hooper, Helan, Nuhiu

Attempts: 2 - FF, Bannan, Hooper, 1 - Sasso, Loovens, Joao

Attempts On Target: 2 - Hooper, 1 - FF

Key Passes: 2 - Lee, Bannan, 1 - Westwood, Hutchinson, Wallace, Hooper

Dribbles: 1 - Wallace, FF

Dispossessed: 1 - Hunt, Lee, FF, Bannan

Bad Control: 2 - Pudil, FF, Lee, Hooper, Joao, 1 - Loovens, Hutchinson

Crosses (Accurate in brackets): 4 - Wallace (0), Bannan (2), 1 - Loovens (1), Lee (1), Helan (0)

Passing Accuracy (Total Passes in Brackets):

Lee - 88% (25)
Hutchinson - 86% (36)
Loovens - 85% (20)
Hooper - 77% (30)
Wallace - 76% (38)
FF - 74% (23)
Bannan - 73% (40)
Pudil - 60% (20)
Hunt - 50% (24)
Sasso - 46% (26)
Westwood - 44% (32)
Joao - 17% (6)
Helan - 14% (7)
Nuhiu - 0% (2)

As soon as we slipped back into the 442, Reading controlled possession and almost inevitably, they scored.

Each of the substitutions made us weaker. Loovens may come in for some criticism but generally he was outstanding except for one mistake. That said, defenders are inevitably judged by their mistakes.

CC needs to go back to the 4321 or at least 4231 or 352 or else we are going to continue to drop points against inferior teams.

The statistics show we had far few touches than normal & our pass completion rate was as low as any all season. FF was well below par & gave the ball away too many times in dangerous positions. Only Hooper played up to form.

Hopefully we can give FF & a few others a rest on Saturday so we are ready to fire fully against Burnley & Birmingham next week.

---

Again i ask someone who went ? was the pitch shit ? the ball was bouncing everywhere in the goal mouth ? i sure Forest would have buried that on a normal pitch !!

FF hit it well enough. It was a brilliant block by the defender.

The pitch looked fine.

[Imre varadi]

Respect ms !!

[consilio]

Bit upset at consilio no **** match report ??? ms obviously isnt feeling well ? sort it out someone this site is dieing for news !! and if you went thurny you little **** then hang your head in shame !!

Sorry busy weekend for me.  MS got it spot on as usual anyway!

[St Charles Owl]

I assume they play rugby on the pitch as it had extra white lines on it, probably doesn't help.

[Imre varadi]

no mention from ms , but the pitch looked like shite !! and and we play football these days you know !! worrying thought going into an Facup tie against a team that is old 4th division material ? maybe cc should hand the game over to gm so he can take them into the hills and have them hoof the ball at every oportunity ?

[madsteve]

They do play rugby on the pitch but it looked a decent pitch & I cannot recall an bobbles or bad bounces.

No excuses. The pitch was fine. The referee got pretty much every decision correct. Our failings were down to CC and his formation & substitutions. If we play 442 then we are likely to be over run in midfield. We need to play one of Nuhiu or Joao, irrespective of how well they are playing because it brings out the best of the team collectively.