Patient United take points

Reading’s meeting with Manchester United came hot on the heels of a difficult week that had seen Reading forced into concentrating on the league following their exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men had to really work hard against a Reading side that had a real determination to gain at least a point. Indeed Reading held United to a goaless draw until 13 minutes from the end when Wayne Rooney broke the deadlock. Cristiano Ronaldo added a second in injury time to give United a 2-0 win.

Steve Coppell’s approach to the game was a bold one. Three strikers were in the Reading team with Dave Kitson, Leroy Lita and Kevin Doyle all starting. Reading wanted to attack United, but soon had to defend. Ronaldo twice shot wide in the opening stages of the game, but the Reading defence looked composed, especially with Kalifa Cisse showing cool calmness in the centre if the Reading defence. United showed real frustration in the first half of the match with Rooney having a goal disallowed and Carlos Tevez only able to shoot wide from inside the box. Marcus Hahnemann also thwarted England international Owen Hargreaves when pushing a free kick from the midfielder around the post.

Hargreaves got revenge of sorts on Reading when he headed away a Dave Kitson header. Kitson made an audacious attempt to lob Edwin Van der Sar in the first half when the United keeper advanced from his goal, but was unable to hit the target. Reading’s play was certainly draining the calmness from the Manchester United side. Cisse seemed to be stopping everything that United threw at him.

As the second half wore on Reading’s attempts to frustrate United became more and more prominent. Rooney and Ronaldo were restricted to long range efforts that were either wide of the target or easily dealt with by Marcus Hahnemann. One significant effort saw Ivar Ingimarsson clear from in front of Marcus Hahnemann to stop Rooney scoring. Dave Kitson had another chance to lob Van der Sar, this time from inside the box, but again Kitson was unable to find the target with his lob finding Van der Sar’s hands.

Rooney finally cashed in with his goal thirteen minutes from the end, but before United’s second, James Harper could have equalised with a surging run and shot that was wide of the post and was similar in style to his famous goal against Liverpool last month. Ronaldo’s goal in injury time finished the game but Reading can take heart from their performance.

The display of Kalifa Cisse quite rightly earned him the man of the match award, but the overall tactics and approach of the Reading side was enough to frustrate the Champions and league leaders Manchester United. Reading can feel rightly disappointed that they did not gain at least a point. Steve Coppell’s approach was just 13 minutes away from being correct and with a tough trip to Chelsea next on the Reading fixture list; Coppell and his men surely must take confidence from a decent display. With no expectation on Reading to get a win at Stamford Bridge and therefore no pressure, who knows what a relaxed, confident and attack minded Reading side can achieve.

By Stuart Croucher.