Wolves v Reading Preview & Conclusion

The day: Tuesday. The date: 30th September 2008. The venue: Molineux.

Preview
This game is going to be fantastic. Imagine, the top-of-the-Championship Wolves side take on a 3rd-placed Reading side with a point to prove against doubters. Reading's away form desperately needs improving if there is a hope for instant promotion back to the Premiership, and that can only be achieved if the Royals get wins home and away.

Reading have won all of their four home games this season, with the lowest score being 2-0, the highest score the destruction of a bewildered Sheffield Wednesday side by 6 goals to nil; and with Doyle scoring 8 goals in his past 3 home games, he'll be wanting to increase that goal tally away from home.

Doyle has competition for the Championship golden boot award from 2 of the Wolves strikers, namely Iwulemo (who's banned for this match, leaving Keogh to come in) and Ebanks-Blake, although everything can change. Noel wants to score eight before Christmas (he'll be upset Doyle beat him to it, then) so the attacking prospects of the game look promising.

Defensively, then, the match also looks like both defenses will have problems. With M Duberry out for Reading they lack the experience needed to beat high-quality opponents, although the physical prescence of Bikey and the level-head of Ingimarsson may prove to be capable. If Pearce is slotted back into defense then the energy levels of the youngstar may also prove helpful. Wolves have only conceded 9 goals during the season in the league and the league cup, which evidently means the defense is perfectly capable of handling problematic attacks.

Midfielding-wise, Reading obviously have problemsd with captain Harper out and Czech playmaker Matejovsky still out after injuring himself in the first game of the season, and the Wolves midfield look fit and capable for any challenge. Let's hope the youthful energy levels of Karacan and the level head of Gunnarson can deal with the troublesome Wolves.

All in all then, a match which looks promising for excitement. Of course, you can always prance off and watch the Champions League. Pah.

Conclusion
What a fantastic game. I did say that at the beginning of this blog. The first half had a goal within four minutes - a Hen. o.g., apparently. Reading had a fantastic 20 minutes in the first half, although the later part of the first half was a Wolves push and Reading panic.

Second half, Wolves started on the front foot but their finishing wasn't as it should be. Reading had Kebe chip in a cross to Bikey, who heads home. Then a third goal came with two substitutes Long and Cisse linking up well for Cisse to slide in and score. 3-0 final score, sorted. Away hex cured.

Did I mention we could have had a penalty? It's a great feeling with such a profound win over the top-of-the-league.

What the papers say

• The Independent
• The Sun
• The Times
• Guardian