Early Goals Win Games

It’s a truism, but getting an early goal helps. Quite how Almen Abdi ended up with the freedom of the edge of the Reading box is anyone’s guess, but his wonderful strike into the bottom corner meant that there was no chance of the emotions of the day crowding out the performance. Having scored the winner at the Mad-Stad earlier in the season, the Royals must have been delighted to see the back of him.

OOOOOOOOOOOH Forestieri

Abdi’s (slightly concerning) early exit allowed for the introduction of last weekend’s villain. Whilst last week’s theatrics showcased what’s worst about the little Argentinian/Italian, today was the absolute best. Playing behind the front two, he was everywhere. It was a performance for which the word “irrepressible” was made.

He tackled back. He harrassed. He dropped deep to win the ball back and get things moving. He was a thoroughly deserving man of the match.

Assists for goals two & three was followed up with a joyous smash into the far corner to put the game to bed.

His gleeful celebration of his goal spoke volumes of a very frustrated man; whilst he’s more usually a player of delicate skills, his goal summed up a performance that was as much about desire and will as the ability to do ridiculous things with a football.

Full Backs

Credit throughout much of the game needs to go to the full backs, Danny Pudil and Marco Motta. Both were great in their own way – Pudil was very sound defensively, when needed, and Motta was an extra attacker, getting agonisingly close to a goal of the season contender in the first half, smashing the bar with a glorious half volley.

Substitutions

Much has been made previously of the managers knack of making changes at just the right time to affect play, and it happened once again today. With Reading pressing having scored a (lovely) consolation effort, and the Orns struggling to clear their lines, swapping Matej Vydra for Gabrielle Angella wasn’t the most obvious of substitutions. It was canny; by going to a 5-3-1-1, the extra body at the back allowed us to hold on to the ball much more easily. It completely removed the sting from Reading who looked as though they sniffed a chance.

All in all, a pleasing day. Not the greatest performance, but 10 minutes aside, this wasn’t a game where they needed to get out of third gear for the most part. Although it’s still touch and go, hopefully three points can be gained at the DW to set us up very nicely for an absolutely blockbuster set of games. Season defining may be a little over the top, but the three games against Ipswich, Boro & Derby will go a long way to deciding how this season ends.

On a final note, credit to everyone at the club for organising everything associated with the “Get Well Nic” items throughout the game. Troy’s notes mentioned that when he returns to the Vic, he wants him to return to see a Premier League game. Let’s hope it’s sooner than that.

(Hat tip to @watfordtalk for the Vines)