Chelsea ended Reading's 14 month long unbeaten league run at the Madejski Stadium - but were extremely fortunate to do so after a free-kick was deflected into the back of the Reading net by Ingimarsson just before the half time break. Chelsea defended well, but it was a classic smash and grab away victory where the visitors clung to the points after a lucky goal against the run of play. Their defensive qualities were clearly on display, but in other areas Chelsea looked a weak side and certainly did not deserve the three points. It was hard to feel anything other that bitterly disappointed at the final whistle - beaten by Chelsea's bad attitude to the game and our inability to carve out an equaliser despite having the majority of the second half.

Stephen Hunt started in place of Bobby Convey and immediately showed he was up for the game breaking down the left to chase the ball inside the opening minute. His run led to the first major incident of the game as the Chelsea keeper came charging out to beat Hunt to a 50/50 ball. Hunt did the right thing and leaped over Cech but unfortunately couldn't avoid contact, leaving Cech injured. Thankfully, the injury didn't look too bad as the keeper crawled off the pitch for attention not long after the contact. After a further hold up, Cudicini came off the bench as play got back underway. Unlike the Middlesbrough and Manchester United game, Reading settled quickly in a lively start. Chelsea were soon showing their intentions with players tumbling to the ground and referee Riley getting a continual verbal battering from the Chelsea team.

Defensively we were more than equal to Chelsea with Sonko putting in some perfectly timed tackles deep inside the Reading half to prevent danger. Ingimarsson's positioning was perfect as Chelsea continually ran into a wall with nowhere to go. Chelsea were struggling to move the ball forward and Reading started defending further forward as the visitors rarely managed to find a shot. Even Reading's front line were clearly man marking as Chelsea had no where to move the ball around. Chelsea's best efforts of the half were a free-kick sent wildly over the crossbar and a shot directly as Hahnemann. The best chance of the first half went Reading's way and nearly saw Reading take the lead. Hunt was causing continual problems for Chelsea down the left and took the ball close to the line before cutting in and twisting past three defenders before crossing to Doyle. Doyle had his back to goal and turn to shoot, sending the ball against the far post with the keeper beaten.

Murty was forced to limp off, having not quite recovered from last week's injury, to be replaced by Bikey at full back. Bikey was to have an excellent game along with the rest of the Reading side, but nearly made a fatal mistake as the ball was rolled out to him by Hahnemann. Bikey was running up the field and hadn't noticed the ball gifting Chelsea a rare chance. It was a rare lack of concentration by the Royals. Just before half time Lampard took full advantage of Sonko's leg on the edge of the box and chose it to take a tumble over. No doubt a foul but well executed by the Chelsea player to win a free-kick on the edge of the area. Sonko's booking was compelete nonsense. The resulting free-kick was smashed against the wall, and pinged wide to Ingimarsson who couldn't do anything apart from watch as the ball hit his leg and sped across goal and into the back of the net for the only goal of the game.

It had been a cruel goal to conceed and the frustration with Chelsea's willingness to win fouls at every opportunity boiled over in the second half. Another Chelsea dive and yet another view of Terry shoving his face into the referee's and giving him a full flow of abuse earned plenty of return abuse from the Reading fans. All of a sudden the entire home support were chanting "lets all do a Chelsea" with over 20,000 fans diving in a united Chelsea impression. It was a comical moment for an element of Chelsea's game they could do without.

The game swung Reading's way when Obi was sent off for a second booking just after the hour mark. It was suddenly all one way traffic as Reading pushed forward in search of a goal. We won a number of corners and got plenty of men inside the box but failed to test the goalkeeper. Sidwell hit a good low shot from outside the area that was just wide of the post, but unfortuantely it was a rare attempt on goal as Chelsea hung on comfortably. Bikey was next to see a red card with less than ten minutes left after he picked up a second booking, and perhaps Reading's chance to share the point evaported. In the dying minutes the ball was still firmly in the Chelsea half. Hahnemann went up for a last minute corner as everyone crowded the box. The resulting ball in saw Sonko attempt to get on the end of it, but instead collide with the Chelsea keeper who felt the full force on an incoming Sonko. And so, Chelsea, with all substitutes used were forced to swap their keeper again with the mouthy Terry pulling on the keeper's shirt. We'd failed to hit the target for the whole half and couldn't test Terry as the game approached ten minutes of added time.

At the final whistle it was like Chelsea had won the cup final, with wild celebrations in front of their fans. It showed how far Reading have come in recent seasons with the existing Premiership Champions realising what an acheivement they had managed in winning at the Madejski Stadium. The truth is they simply weren't a better side and on another day the points might have gone the other way. Looking at the top of the table, I sincerely hope that Manchester United do enough to take the title away from Chelsea this season. Despite the disappointment, there were plenty of positives after another good Reading performance. Despite the unbeaten record at last ending, Marcus Hahnemann continued his run of clean sheets in front of the North Stand, and Reading can reflect on another narrow defeat after an impressive team performance.
Graham

Once again Jose Mourinho and Chelsea stole the headlines, mainly for his outrageous and totally inaccurate interpretation of an incident which resulted in an unfortunate injury to Peter Cech. A magnificent Reading performance was overshadowed by Mourinho's post match comments which implied that Steven Hunt had brutally and deliberately assaulted the Chelsea 'keeper and then "laughed in his face". I hope, as he requested, the F.A. do look into the incident and demand a public apology from him for his defamatory remarks. Hunt's reaction was probably one of disbelief at the reaction of the Chelsea team. He must have wondered what all the fuss was about. From the replay you can see why. It looked to me as if Cech flew into the path of Hunt and therefore shares at least some of the responsibility for the collision.

Not only did Chelsea steal the headlines, but they also stole the points, and can count themselves very lucky to come away with a win. It was measure of Reading's stature that Chelsea players celebrated as if they had won the league at the end, hurling their shirts into the crowd. They are kidding themselves if they felt they had performed well, overcoming bad luck and injury. Their victory was achieved by virtue of a very lucky goal from a free kick 'won' by a mainly anonymous Lampard throwing himself at Sonko when he had lost control of the ball on the edge of the area. His misdirected shot ricochet off Sonko and Ingimarsson on its was into the net with Hahnmemann wrong-footed by the second deflection.

Reading came closest to scoring in the first half when Hunt wriggled past several Chelsea defenders on the left and stabbed in an excellent short pass to Doyle's feet who dropped his shoulder and turned sending two Chelsea defenders they wrong way before clipping his shot against the post with Chelsea's other international 'keeper, Cudicini, completely beaten. Chelsea were stifled by Reading's superb defence. Sonko was outstanding keeping Drogba subdued and making some quite brilliant tackles at crucial times. (Match of the Day pundits failed appreciate or acknowledge that sort of thing!) Sidwell came close with a rasping drive when Shorey rolled the ball to him outside the box but his shot flew just wide of the upright. Reading also nearly snatched a deserved equaliser near the end when Drogba hooked the ball off the line following Cudicin's collision with Sonko. The collision resulted in second lengthy stoppage as Cudicini was carried off to hospital and Terry took over briefly in goal. It was a bad injury but Sonko could not be blamed for going for the ball any more than Cudcini, and it happened too late to have any bearing on the outcome of the game. There were no heroics from Terry. (I was amazed to hear he was awarded to receive the Man of the Match award from Sky.)

Chelsea benefited from some poor refereeing to greater extent the Royals, and in terms of injuries, Murty's early departure was far more disruptive than Chelsea losing their 'keeper. Reading wobbled briefly defensively as Bikey took a few minutes to wake up! Soon after coming on he turned his back on Hahnmenann when the ball was rolled out to him and it nearly cost Reading a goal. When he did settle he looked very strong and dependable.

Chelsea did have to cope with being reduced to ten men when Referee Riley sent off Mikel Obi when he hauled down Sonko for a second yellow card. That was evened up when Bikey tried a similar trick on Drogba twenty minutes later. But even when the sides were even again Reading were putting the champions under pressure. As the game progressed Reading went looking for the equaliser and grew in confidence. Doyle and Little began to go past players and get behind the defence and throughout he team everyone looked more assured in possession. Lita battled hard throughout against some outstanding defenders. Had he managed to hold onto the ball a bit longer at times Reading might have posed more of threat. Nevertheless he had a good game. It was also good to see Long come on for last fifteen minutes and have real go at the Chelsea back four.

So anxious were Chelsea that even the coaching staff got involved holding on to the ball when it went out of play. Kevin Dillon reacted and was sent off as was the Chelsea man. In his defence Dillon's misdemeanour was the product of a sense of injustice unlike his counterpart who was simply blatantly cheating.

When the players recover from the disappointment of defeat I hope they will reflect on this game with a good deal of pride and satisfaction. Reading matched the Champions in many ways and certainly had the edge over Chelsea in terms of teamwork, self discipline, and professionalism. This performance should only serve to fuel the confidence and optimism about Reading's chances of succeeding in the Premiership this season. Just think how far the team has come since the last time they lost at home thirty-one games ago to Plymouth Argyle!
John