Reading 0 Derby 1

Fresh on back of our morale boosting win against Preston North End, I decided on the spur of the moment to charge down south to watch Derby play Reading at the Madejski Stadium. On my drive down with a couple of friends I didn't doubt my decision, but I was beginning to wonder if it would all be worth it whilst waiting in the queue for tickets outside the stadium.

Reading themselves would have been full of confidence having battered Ipswich 5-1 on Saturday; no mean feat given Ipswich's cracking defensive record last season. It was also noticeable in that it was the first time since early April that Reading had scored in the league at home. Derby would have to be on their toes.

Derby's starting 11 (@Ed_DawesBeeb)

Paul Clement made 3 changes to the winning tam at Preston; out went the injured Chris Baird for Jeff Hendrick, with Craig Forsyth and Scott Carson replacing Stephen Warnock and Lee Grant respectively. The first 2 changes were no surprise really; Baird is essentially out for 2 weeks with concussion whilst Warnock looked exhausted after 60 minutes against Preston and had to eventually be replaced. The goalkeeper situation is interesting as it seems that Clement can't decide between Grant or Carson. They both have their strengths and weaknesses; Grant makes world class saves but isn't the best at claiming crosses, whereas Carson is the opposite, never likely the pull off a worldie but great at the basics.

No sooner had I got to my seat and the game was underway, referee Andy Davies blowing the whistle. Reading flew out the traps winning a couple of quick corners in the first couple of minutes which came to nothing, Derby clearing the ball with ease. It appeared that the tactics would be similar to Saturday, sit back deep and try to hit Reading on the break using the pace of Johnny Russell and trickery of Tom Ince. On the whole though it was a pretty dreary first half. Derby broke a couple of times, and Jacob Butterfield had 2 goal-bound shots blocked by the impressive Michael Hector and the experienced Paul McShane.

Jason Shackell competing with Orlando Sá (@dcfcofficial)

Other than that though, it was all Reading attacking-wise, but I have to be honest and say that I don't think the Derby defence was really threatened. Apart from a couple of long range shots from out wide that swerved all over the place, Carson didn't really have a save to make, and barely had to come and claim any crosses as Jason Shackell and Richard Keogh cleared them with ease.  Reading played some nice one touch passing in an attempt to play their way through the middle of the park but when it looked like there might be an opening the door was shut in their face.

Then just before half time came the turning point of the match. A long ball up from the back was cleared by Shackell  who fell too the floor under pressure from Orlando Sá. Sá's foot appeared to catch Shackell on the back as he hopped over him and Shackell was immediately up letting Sá know what he thought about it. The pair leaned  towards each other and then Sá jutted his head forward, with Shackell rearing his head back and looking at the linesman who couldn't have been more than 5 yards away. I would say that Sá's been on the receiving end of some classic kidology, but he should have known that any sort of headbutting movement would be punished by the referee. It was a shame really because it was an intriguing game up until that point, but Sá can have no complaints. 

Cyrus Christie ventures forward (@dcfcofficial)

There were no substitutions at half time but there was a clear change in the direction of the match; whereas in the first half Derby had been content to sit back and play on the counter, in the second they pushed up to the half way line taking advantage of their numerical advantage. Reading on the other hand, were all to aware of the problem they faced and as a result dropped back, barely getting out of their own penalty area.  
  
The old adage is that it's harder to play against 10 men than 11 and for a long time this was proved true. Having decided that a point would be a good result Reading shut up shop, leaving Derby to find the break through. On the whole it was a test of patience; everybody knew that a chance would come it would just bee a case of taking it. Derby spread the ball out wide and back to the middle trying to find a gap through the congested centre of the park, but Reading refused to be drawn out. Jeff Hendrick was replaced by Darren Bent who immediately set about trying to pull defenders out of position by running in behind and coming short as Derby went 4-4-2. 

The breakthrough came in the 69th minute. Bent came short dragging Oliver Norwood away from the centre of the pitch, a space which was immediately occupied by Martin. Butterfield fired the ball into Martin's feet, who then flicked the ball to the onrushing Ince who had drifted in off the wing. Ince almost overran the ball, but controlled it in the nick of time, throwing McShane off balance and poking the ball past Jonathon Bond in the Reading net. It was the only thing that went right for Ince all evening and it should do him the world of good. 
 

Tom Ince pokes Derby in front (@dcfcofficial)

Reading were forced to come out of their shell in search of an equaliser that never looked likely to appear; the only real chances I can remember them having in the second half was a header over the bar by Nick Blackman and a volley way over  by Chris Gunter. Reading will do well this season, they've added well this summer and have good strength in depth. I was particularly impressed by Hector who never looked like being beaten in the air or on the ground; Derby wisely targeted McShane as the weaker of the 2 centre backs. Stephen Quinn too, was his usual tenacious self in midfield. 

These 3 points will be valuable ones at the end of the season; it's always harder than it should be playing against 10 men. Most importantly though, we didn't look stretched defensively against a team with good striking options; Matěj Vydra has proven his class in this league in the past, but he was rendered ineffectual by Derby. This defensive solidity bodes well for this season - teams get promoted on the back of good defences. 

Performances 

Scott Carson - Did what was required. Made a couple of saves from difficult long range shots and commanded his box well. Only downside was some of his wayward kicking, particularly on his left foot.

Cyrus Christie - Appears to be Clements first choice right back now. Did very well defensively and after the break got forward to support the attack well.

Richard Keogh - Absolutely superb. Defensively solid, he was instrumental in carrying the ball out of defence in the second half; one run from the edge of his box into the opposition half stands out in the memory.

Paul Clement and Richard Keogh after the match (@dcfcofficial)

Jason Shackell - Did well to shackle (pun intended) Vydra and got under the skin of the hotheaded Sá. Could have made an arse of himself for the red card by falling over, but resisted the temptation.

Craig Forsyth - Very good. Didn't get beaten very often by the dangerous Tshibola and was a valuable outlet after half time, charging forward and supporting the attack at every opportunity.

Bradley Johnson - Didn't look comfortable at defensive midfield, he took too long on the ball and some of his tackles left a lot to be desired. However, he wasn't afraid to throw his weight about and we've needed that for a while. Looked better when moved forward after Hanson came on.

Jeff Hendrick - Made some good runs forward but the game seemed to pass him by. didn't get long in the second half to impress before he was hooked for Bent.

Jacob Butterfield - Tenacious in defence in the first half, but didn't get on the ball often enough. Came to the fore in the second half when he was able to turn on the ball and look for balls to thread through the Reading defence.

Tom Ince - I can't help but feel sorry for him. It's obvious that he's working hard both in defence and in attack but apart from the goal, absolutely nothing came off for him. He's a marked man, but while this is the case we should take advantage of of the space he'll create for others.

Johnny Russell - Wasn't the irrepressible player he was against Preston but he still offered n outlet. On more than one occasion he weaved is way through the Reading defence only for the final ball to not quite work out.

Chris Martin - Was outfought in the first half by the massive Hector, wasn't helped by the head height balls going up to him. In second half did well dropping deeper to try and pull Reading defenders out of position. Lovely ball for Ince's goal.

Darren Bent - Did well. Looked a threat from the moment he came on with his movement. Invaluable movement for the goal to create space.

Jamie Hanson - did okay replacing Butterfield. Picked up a daft booking and panicked a couple of times, hoofing the ball clear. Was disciplined in his position allowing Johnson to move forward.

Andreas Weimann - Worked hard when he came on, but didn't really have enough time to impress.

Parting Thoughts

• It's a nice feeling to not be worried every time the opposition come forward like I have been in previous seasons. This new defensive solidity is a far cry from the end of last season.
• Bent showed why he's always useful to have around, pulling players out of position. He'll get plenty of chances this season to score goals.
• 2 goals and 1 assist this week for Martin, proving why for me he's one of the best strikers in the Championship, as if 20 goals in each of the past 2 seasons wasn't enough proof.