News and Views
Another Great Comeback - Another Le Fondre Double
30 January 2013
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading made it a hat-trick of unbelievable turn arounds - coming from two goals down with just three minutes left on the clock to draw 2-2 with third placed Chelsea. Everyone would have thought Reading were dead and buried with time running out - apart from Reading and their fans who know better. Following near miracles against West Brom and Newcastle it was the same recipe again as the late rescue of a point took Reading out of the bottom three in the Premier League. And once again we had Adam Le Fondre to thank after he scored two more goals despite missing 67 minutes of the action. His finishing was sublime as he looked the best player on the pitch - on a pitch filled with world class players.
There was no sign of the late drama to come during an forgetable first half. Neither side created any real chances and it looked set to be 0-0 at half time until Mata got round the back of the defence to score just before the break. Chelsea looked in control at the start of the second half as they continued to enjoy most of the possession and it was 0-2 on 66 minutes when a corner from the left was headed firmly home by Frank Lampard. There was no chance that McDermott would give up on this one despite Chelsea looking for a third and looking like they had the game won.
The turning point was on 77 minutes when Hope Akpan came off the bench to join super sub Adam Le Fondre who had been introduced ten minutes earlier. The two players combined in spectacular form to turn the game around for Reading. After failing to create a single chance of note Reading finally saw some action down the right end with approaching ten minutes left on the clock. Both Akpan and Le Fondre had decent long range efforts that were just wide and high of the Chelsea goal. It was the start of the late, late revival.
On 87 minutes Akpan played the ball forward on the left deep into the box and Le Fondre took just one touch to guide the ball across goal and into the back of the net. The Reading fans hoped, and even expected, the comeback to be completed and stepped up their performance as the team stepped up theirs. Chelsea were doing their best to run down the clock as five minutes of stoppage time were announced. At every opportunity Reading tried to get the ball forward until deep in injury time Federici pumped forward a free-kick into the box. Akpan headed it down and Le Fondre repeated his previous efforts with an excellent finish from a similar position to make it 2-2, seal another memorable comeback, bag a point, and send the Madejski Stadium absolutely nuts once more.
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