The Championship match between Reading and Sheffield Wednesday at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday Feb 27 2010.
Brian McDermott is fast becoming the Championship’s alchemist. The novice Reading manager seems to have pinned down the formula for prompting promising footballers to realise their potential.
If he can maintain such adroitness in cultivating talent, as well as persuading players they are better than they actually are, more glamorous positions could beckon, yet he is content to continue wringing out the ability of those who grace the Madejski. A fifth league win in six was garnered to go alongside a captivating FA Cup adventure.
“I don’t think there are any secrets. We don’t look too far ahead, we look at each game. The players are really up for it. We played really good football,” McDermott said, perhaps struggling to resist thoughts of next Sunday’s quarter final against Aston Villa.
Reading’s third goal was an explicit illustration of a footballer’s sudden refinement. Simon Church has not found goal-scoring a simple activity this season but the swivel past Sheffield Wednesday defender Richard Hinds and measured shot which found the net via a post in the second half smacked of a forward who nets for fun.
Wednesday under Alan Irvine have a purposefulness which was not apparent under Brian Laws, although they were swamped by Reading’s greater appetite to attack and win the match. Wednesday reside in the relegation zone.
All over the pitch there were examples of Reading’s rejuvenation in miniature. Grzegorz Rasiak has divided opinion among supporters but he gave them reason to extol his virtues as a goal poacher extraordinaire. With clinical opportunism he scored twice, first doubling Reading’s lead just before half time after Church’s shot was blocked and then stabbing in Jimmy Kebe’s cross as Wednesday disintegrated.
Kebe is another whose self-belief has been unshackled. His work ethic has often been a subject of debate but, playing wide on the right and often drifting infield, he displayed the conviction to run at players. He gave Reading the lead with a shot which took a deflection off Hinds and wrong-footed Lee Grant before tearing through in the 71st minute and crashing in his second and his side’s fifth goal.
This was football butchery and all the more impressive given McDermott was without the energy and penetration of suspended winger Jobi McAnuff and had to pitch Gylfi Sigurdsson on the left flank.
Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici may have perversely regretted not having more opportunity to showcase his ability to Premier League suitors but he was a virtual bystander.
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