readingreplay310804

Slade Green bow out to fluke strike

After 180 minutes of football it needed a fluke goal to finally separate two evenly matched sides in this FA Cup extra preliminary round replay in Berkshire on Tuesday night.  

Green made a dream start taking a 4th minute lead.  Lee Morgan provided the pass that left Ryan Hayes bearing down on goal and after being pulled back by a defender, the resulting penalty saw Dean Bowey step up to despatch the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. 

The visitors could so easily have doubled their lead on the 18 minute mark as Danny Little played in Hayes and having skipped past his marker his strike was just a shade wide of the post. 

The turning point in this game came midway through the first half as Mark Barney let fly with a well taken long range effort that flew past keeper Paul Vines, and with Green still reeling from this equaliser they fell behind seconds later as again Barney was left in possession and this time with an attempted cross-cum shot the ball veered past a shell shocked Vines.

Instantly Green were almost back on terms a glorious cross from Hayes looked set to find the unmarked Bowey only for a defender to whip the ball off the line.

 The visitors were presented with a massive boost 8 minutes into the second half as Reading shot stopper Michael Pratley was sent off for handling outside the area and then punching the ball away in anger, but it was the home side who almost found the net soon afterwards as Dave Mills shot was tipped over the bar by Vines.

Despite their one man advantage it was not until the final 15 minutes that Green stretched the Reading rearguard. 

Having connected with Morgan’s pass Shaun Malyon made great inroads down the left flank before unleashing a peach of a cross which Danny Little guided over the bar, Little was again left with the goal at his mercy moments later but this time failed to connect with an attempted header following Tony Gallagher’s centred ball.

In between Little’s two chances Gallagher did force the ball over the line following industrious play from Malyon.

The home side had their moments late on Darren Russell planted a free header over the bar, while Vines pulled off a wonderful save with his feet to thwart Michael Hancock.

Slade Green: Vines, Barber, Morgan (Mace), Gallagher, Upson, Little (Corrigan), Malyon, Barrett, Arnold, Bowey, Hayes.  Other subs:  Sabatino, Robinson