8/3/2019 Reading v Cardiff City match report

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54 November 20, 20 11 WA LESonSUND AY WALESonSUNDAY November 20, 201 1Wales Wales

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MALKY MACKAYHadhis troops

perfectlyset upforthisandkept themmotivatedthroughout.

8/10

REFRATING

DARRENSHELDRAKEKeptthe controversyto

aminimumandallowedthe gameto

flowwhenhe could.

PETER WHITTINGHAMHewas brilliantfor hissidehereandhasamassive roleto playthiscampaign.

MANOFTHEMATCH

7/10 9/10

1:2READING CARDIFF CITY

ATTENDANCE:20,361REFEREE:Darren Sheldrake(Surrey)

THECHAMPIONSHIP THE

bySTEVETUCKERat The Madejski Stadium

Kebe 77 Whittingham 2Hudson 70

CARDIFF CITY earned the revengethey craved against Reading inthis excellent showing that sawthemmakeitthreeChampionshipwins on the bounce.

Malky Mackays side kept up thepaceat thetopofthetable,buthadtofighteveryinchoftheway againstTheRoyals who had dumped them out ofthe play-offs back in May.

Therewasa realtenacityabouttheBluebirds here who had to absorb alot of pressure, but impressed in allareas of the park too with doggeddefence, fast-paced midfield workand, in lone striker Kenny Miller, aplayer willing to run himself into thegroundforhisside foroftenminimumreward.

But if much has been made of theBluebirds work and team ethic thiscampaign, in Whittingham they stillhave a magician, an ace in the pack.

WiththelikesofCraigBellamyandJayBothroydgone,the languidmidfielderhas become his sides talisman. He iseffectively a shaman in football boots.

Within two minutes he had his sideaheadherewith a brilliantstrikeand

then he supplied the free-kick forskipper Hudson to put the Bluebirdstwo up. Not even a goal with 13minutes left from the Royals verydangerous Jimmy Kebe could denythem this time.

It was thanks to Whittingham thenthatthe starttothe gamewasexplos-ive and it ignited a wall of noise fromthe near 4,000 travelling fans behindthe one goal that barely waned allafternoon.

And the Cardiff fans had plenty toscream about all within the first twominutes of action. With barely aminute gone Craig Conway unleasedafierceshot fromdistancethatAdamFederici in the home goal could onlypush away in surprise.

Filip Kiss was following up, but ashe stabbed the rebound goal-ward,Federici some how managed to clawthat away too.

It was great goalkeeping, butsecondslater theRoyalsshot-stopperwas to stand no chance as the Blue-

birds took the early lead.It was all about Whittingham, whocollected the ball a good 30 yards outcomposed himself and hit a swervinghigh shot which was so targeted onthetopcorneritneededthehelpof theinsideofthepostbeforeit rippledthenetting. Federici this time had beenleft grasping at nothing but fresh air.

It was a tremendous start for theBluebirds, but garnered an instantresponsefromReadingwho cameoutsnarlingandgnashinglike somescal-ded animal.

Tormentor in chief indeed provedKebe, who was irresistible down theright and striker Noel Hunt, re-in-

stated to the side after grabbing thewinnerinthe Royalslastoutinghere,a 1-0 victory over Birmingham.

On 13 minutes Hunt must havethought he was going to add to hisheroics, put through and bearingdownonMarshall,buthe wastracked well more sort of stalked by BenTurnerwho forcedhimwideand thengota greatblockinon thesubsequentshot.

Turners all-round performancehereindeedsentout a bigmessagetotheFAWto getamoveon andgetthe

23-year-old, whoapparentlyqualifiesthrough his grandmother, involved inthe Wales set sooner rather thanlater.

Across the back Cardiff held firmmind with Kevin McNaughton againas active as a terrier trying to get out

of a sack.When all else failed though it wasgoal-keeperMarshallwho providedastern last line of defence. The Blue-birds were to rely on him time andtime again.

Back in the side after illness theScottish international is brimmingwith confidence right now and itsdown very much to the faith Mackayhas shown in him this campaign.

On 19 minutes Hunt found himselfwith a sight of goal again, but Mar-shall flung himself at full-stretch to

push the ferocious effort to safety.The Bluebirds were weathering thestorm, but they were making it hardon themselves too, when they did getsome breathing space they provedwasteful at times in midfield and thepressure was soon back on.

But by the end of the first periodReading were frustrated and lookedto have blown out their own stormagainst Cardiffs resilience.

But the home side might have beenlevel on 54 minutes when JemKaracan was put through and Mar-shall had to make himself big to savethe effort. So to be honest, Cardiffre-taking the lead had not reallyseemedon theagendauntil Whitting-ham on 70 minutes curled in afree-kick and Hudson was there todrive it home.

On77 minutesKebeghostedin foranear-post header to make the endmoreinteresting,shallwe say.ButtheBluebirds held firm with AnthonyGerrad even brought on from thebench to make a third centre-half.

In added time the Bluebirds should

have extended their lead, Aron Gun-narsson sweeping through an absentReadingdefenceand perfectlysettingupDo Cowie,buttheScottishinterna-tionals shot from eight yards wasscuffed and Federici pushed it roundthe post.

The magnificent Cardiff fans wereacclaiming their players at the endandquiterightlyasthey hadseenoffaside previously unbeaten in their last10 Championship outing and in theprocess had done their own promo-tion credentials no harm at all.

SWEETREVENGE

AS CITYSEE OFFROYALS

>>Mark Hudsoncelebratslidingthe ball past ReadiAdamFederici for Citys se>>Aron Gunnarssonon the move against Reading

>>KennyMillergrimacesaftergoingclose

BLUEBIRDS boss Malky Mackaypraised the hard work andcalmnessof hissideas theymadeit three Championship wins onthe bounce with a 2-1 win atReading.

A superb strike from Peter Whittingham and a goal fromskipperMarkHudsonearnedthevictory, but a late goal from theRoyals Jimmy Kebe meant theBluebirds had to hold on at theend at the Madejski Stadium.

Mackays men stay fourth andthe Cardiff boss was not gettingcarried away, insistingconsistency was vital from hisside now.

It w as v er y m uc h ahard-earned victory for us, butthat was the way it was alwaysgoing to be.

We were playing against ateamthathad onlylostone gamein 10 and Brians teams arealwayssetupto lettheoppositionknowtheyareina gameandthisone was no different, saidMackay.

But we matched their

intensity and we matched theirathleticism right to the last. Ithought when they got their goalit was actually against the run ofplay and wedhad afew chancesearlier to go further ahead. Wecould have been three up, but itwas a tense, close tie.

But they got the goal and itmade the end of the gameinteresting, so to speak. So wehad to make sure we wereresilient at the end. But we didstay very calm about things.

We a re s tr iv in g f orconsistency. They are still a newgroupofplayersand theyarestilllearning to play together so thatis really pleasing.

M ac ka y a ls o p ra is ed Whittingham, whose 30-yardstrikewithintwominutesmadeitsix for him so far this season,whilealsoputtinginthefree-kickf or H ud so n t o s co re t heBluebirds second.

Mackay added: Someoneaskedmeif Petermeantit,butitssomething I see him do week inandweekoutin training.Theballhe put in for Mark Hudsons goal

was excellent also.Meanwhile,ReadingbossBrian

McDermott, a former Cardiffplayer,believedhis sidedeservedsomething from the game if notall three points.

I think definitely we deservedsomething from it. I felt weshould have won. Whittinghamsgotagreatleftfoot,but hedidntmeanto dothat.Thesecondgoalwas disappointing too, saidMcDermott.

We wereresilient tothe end

>>Malkay Mackay withReadings Brian McDermott

>>Peter Whittingham, right, is congratulatedby team-mates after scoringa spectacular openinggoal against Readingat the Madejski Stadium PICTURE:GET

GAFFERRATING