Reading climbed out of the relegation zone with a draw against bottom of the league Ipswich Town. Under recently appointed manager Paul Lambert, Town presented more of a challenge that many had expected. As so often happens under a new manager Ipswich were galvanised by Lambert's arrival and started on the front foot. In a chaotic opening ten minutes they took an early lead through Edwards, immediately conceded a brilliant equaliser by Meite, and then regained the lead when Sears took full advantage of some appalling Reading defending. Throughout the first half Reading were sluggish and conceded possession with remarkable regularity, and rarely threatened the visitor's goal. In contrast Ipswich were full of energy and aggression and had Jaakkola not pulled off a couple of smart saves the game would have been over by half time. Thankfully for Reading the second half was a different story. Meite confirmed his status the current home fans' favourite heading a deserved equaliser six minutes from the end and, if Baldock had managed to put away one of the two excellent chances created for him in the final minutes, Reading would have taken all three points from an Ipswich side which by then had well and truly retreated into their shell.
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Draw Takes Reading Out Of Bottom Three
From the Discussion
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SR Snowflake Royal 10 Nov 2018 · 5:32pm
Fucking disgraceful showing first half. No character, no desire, no shape, no coordination. Ipswich were bigger, stronger, quicker, more direct, more confident. Best team I've seen this season based on first half (faint praise indeed). Jaakkola - 5 kicking terrible Yiadom - 3 awful display. Moore 4 so brainless and casual O'Shea 3 showing why he's on for a relegation hattrick Blackett 5 poor Bacuna 3 astoundingly bad Rinomhota 5 poor Kelly 6 more desire than the rest of midfield and defence together Barrow 4 fell over at nothing, although booking was nonsense and a fk Baldock 5 ok but some poor touches Meite 7 very lacklustre other…
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AL alfie9 10 Nov 2018 · 5:32pm
Clement out.
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WI windermereROYAL 10 Nov 2018 · 6:15pm
oxf*rd disgraceful showing first half. No character, no desire, no shape, no coordination. Ipswich were bigger, stronger, quicker, more direct, more confident. Best team I've seen this season based on first half (faint praise indeed). Jaakkola - 5 kicking terrible Yiadom - 3 awful display. Moore 4 so brainless and casual O'Shea 3 showing why he's on for a relegation hattrick Blackett 5 poor Bacuna 3 astoundingly bad Rinomhota 5 poor Kelly 6 more desire than the rest of midfield and defence together Barrow 4 fell over at nothing, although booking was nonsense and a fk Baldock 5 ok but some poor touches Meite 7 very lacklustre other…
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PI PieEater 10 Nov 2018 · 6:30pm
We were totally outplayed in the first half by a team that was bottom of the table. They were up for it, we weren't. Both goals were a shambles, the first looked like Jaakola saved it but somehow spilled it into the net. The second was route 1 goal kick from the keeper and Moore either dithered or misqueued and Sears tucked it in. A lesson for schoolboys on how not to defend. There was marginally more in the second half but in truth we were lucky to scrape a draw. Meite seems to have kicked on since getting his new contract, both goals were well taken and showed skill I never imagined he had. However our home form is dire and at…
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AN Anonymous 10 Nov 2018 · 6:30pm
Dross.
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SR Snowflake Royal 10 Nov 2018 · 6:33pm
oxf*rd disgraceful showing first half. No character, no desire, no shape, no coordination. Ipswich were bigger, stronger, quicker, more direct, more confident. Best team I've seen this season based on first half (faint praise indeed). Jaakkola - 5 kicking terrible Yiadom - 3 awful display. Moore 4 so brainless and casual O'Shea 3 showing why he's on for a relegation hattrick Blackett 5 poor Bacuna 3 astoundingly bad Rinomhota 5 poor Kelly 6 more desire than the rest of midfield and defence together Barrow 4 fell over at nothing, although booking was nonsense and a fk Baldock 5 ok but some poor touches Meite 7 very lacklustre other…
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SU Sutekh 10 Nov 2018 · 6:44pm
Atrocious, abysmal, dreadful, appalling first half performance. Much improved second half (well it could not have got worse) but still a bit iffy. But they should not have been in that position they’d should have been in Ipswich’s faces from the start not sitting off and getting panicky and then conceding which made them even more negative. Credit to Clement for coming out and saying how bad it was in the first half (and he wasn’t overly impressed with the second either) but he is responsible for team selection and tactics though how responsible he can be when players just aren’t performing/listening/learning from their continual…
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SN Snowball 10 Nov 2018 · 6:54pm
Yes we were poor first half, but Ipswich played well, and on the form, if they can play 90 minutes, will get out of trouble. That's a clear new manager bounce and they are undefeated in two. It should have been over at HT, but it wasn't. Second half we were so much better. We won the second half 1-0 forced at least one good save, and missed two good chances. That, IMO, given the context is a very good point. If Meite keeps improving we have a big player on our hands A bit like when Long was criticised but eventually found a way to use all that power. Two excellent goals from Meite, and I went home curiously satisfied. The two CBs…