Carling Cup, Round 1

Tuesday 23rd August 2005,

Madejski Stadium, 20:00pm Kick-Off

TEAM LINE-UP'S

Reading - Stack, Makin, Shorey, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Oster (Little 14, Lita 82), Hunt, Harper, Sidwell, Doyle (Gunarsson 71), Kitson

Subs not used; Hahnemann (GK), Convey

Swansea City - Gueret, Tate, Edwards, Austin (Anderson 45), Ricketts, Britton, Martinez, Tudur-Jones (MacDonald 101), McLeod, Akinfenwa, Connor

Subs not used; Murphy (GK), Thorpe, Goodfellow

MATCH REVIEW

Steve Coppell's Reading side needed extra time to see off 10 man Swansea City in the 1st Round of the Carling Cup, as the Royals gained a deserved 3-1 win thanks to a brace from Dave Kitson and a goal from substitute Leroy Lita.

Reading made 5 changes from the side that put 5 past Millwall with Graham Stack and Chris Makin getting there debut's for the club while John Oster and Stephen Hunt earned there 1st starts in the hoops with Kevin Doyle replacing Leroy Lita.

The Royals started brightly but were forced into a change just 13 minutes into the match when winger John Oster went off injured with what looked like a hamstring injury. He was replace by Glen Little.

Little's arrival seemed to make an instant impact as Reading soon went 1-0 in front just a minute later when a through ball from the on-loan Arsenal goalie Graham Stack reached striker Dave Kitson who lobbed the helpless Swansea goalkeeper Willy Gueret which took Kitson's goal scoring tally to 3 for the season.

The Royals should have extended there lead with Steve Sidwell, Kitson again and Kevin Doyle all coming close on occasions.

The 2nd half saw the debut of Brnyjar Gunarsson, who has fully recovered from the knee injury that has kept him out of action so far in his Royals career. His first bit of action in the game was to receive a yellow card for holding back Leon Britton.

But the Swans got a deserved equaliser 10 minutes from time when an Ijah Anderson cross from the right wing was headed in by former Torquay front man Adebayo Akinfenwa to send the 300 travelling Swansea fans from Wales into full song.

With a win seeming unlikely in 90 minutes, Steve Coppell made a positive change instantly when he introduced £1million front man Leroy Lita in place of the substitute Glen Little.

But Anderson turned from hero to villain just 5 minutes later when he was sent off for a 2nd yellow card after a foul from behind on Dave Kitson, leaving Swansea facing the possibility of 35 minutes with 10 men.

Neither side were able to find a winner in 90 minutes, and the match went into extra time.

Extra time saw the strange sight of Reading supporters leaving early, many forgetting that extra time was to settle this result.

Just 5 minutes into the 1st half of extra time, Dave Kitson put the Royals back in front after rounding Gueret before cooly slotting home.

Then with 6 minutes remaining in the match, Leroy Lita put the result beyond Swansea when a superb Ibrahima Sonko pass found James Harper on the right wing who delivered a perfect cross for Lita to head home.

The drama wasn't over when the unpopular referee Mr Stroud sent Swansea Manager Kenny Jackett off moments later from the technical area for what appeared to be foul and abusive language. Jackett was clearly unhappy with the performance of the ref who produced 6 yellow cards and 1 red card in a game that was competitive but no real challenges malicious enough to earn the cards.

In the end, the match finished 3-1 to Reading who will now find out who there next opponents are when the draw for the 2nd Round is made on Saturday afternoon.

The 2nd Round sees the introduction of 12 of the 20 Premiership sides, with some nice possible fixtures emerging.

Man Of The Match - Steve Sidwell

The Royals Captain for the evening led by example, breaking up the pacey Swansea counter attack and also getting forward and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet.

Attendance - 7,603

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID

Steve Coppell, Reading Manager

"We're on a hiding to nothing in these sorts of games. You've seen tonight a few Championship sides have been dumped out, and we knew from last year that Swansea are very capable."

"They played a formation that made it hard. Having got our noses in front I felt that we would push on, but a moment's madness at the back cost us. I would have preferred not an extra half an hour but the players are fit enough to take it. It's not a major issue, they've got enough time to recover."

"It would be almost insulting for people to say we weren't taking it seriously. I've got to see these players in first team football, in this kind of action."

"I've said that many times that reserve team football isn't what it used to be and doesn't give you what you want, and it's only within the blood and thunder of the action that you can make assessments on the players."

"Hunty is unbelievably energetic, but football is more than just energy. Sometimes he's got time to relax a little, but I've been saying that for eight years!"

"I look at the three of them (Kitson, Doyle, Lita) and in many ways any combination would be exciting. At the moment Kitson and Lita probably have more edge and purpose, but I've got no doubt whatsoever that Kevin Doyle will be a good goal scorer."

"There wasn't a great deal of physical contact allowed, and there was no really malicious challenges, yet we had lots of bookings and a red card. Brynjar Gunnarsson was just getting into the pace of the game and the decision to book him wasn't very good. It's probably early season vigour against the referees, which is almost an annual trend at this time of year."  

Kenny Jackett, Swansea Manager

Reaction to follow.

The Royals are back in action this Saturday when we make the short trip up the M25 to Watford for this 17:15pm kick off. This game is live on Sky Sports. Please Note; With the Bank Holiday weekend approaching, it does mean that the Reading Rock Festival is once again at the Richfield Avenue website, bringing plenty of music and traffic to the town, so please bear that in mind when travelling.

>Ticket Information