DUTCH CLOGGED Reading 2-1 Feyenoord

A magnificent piece of cheating from Ibrahima Sonko earned Reading a 2-1 win over our visitors from the Netherlands at the MadStad yesterday afternoon. With Reading holding onto a 2-1 lead and the game entering the final ten minutes, Sonko raced back to cover as Dutch international striker Dirk Kuyt ran clear and clearly muscled his man to the ground. The referee kindly chose not so brandish what would normally have been a mandatory red card in this final pre-season friendly fixture and the resulting freekick was wasted.

Van Hooijdonk, well known to us from his days at Nottingham Forest, later rapped the post with a delightful curling effort but despite these two let offs Reading deserved their win, with two goals within 60 seconds midway through the first half. Kitson headed a measured Convey free kick delivery home with familiar authority and within a minute had struck the post from a sensational Shorey centre which was follow up by Ingimarsson stabbing the loose ball home. The first half was all Reading but the Dutch men were flying after the break and De Ceulear knocked Van Hooijdonk's flick from a corner into the roof of the Reading net to give some cheer to the several hundred vocal Feyenoord fans who had made the trip.

A good win for Reading against a side who had recently beaten our first Premiership opposition Middlesbrough by two goals to nil. Let us hope that is a sign of thinsg to come next Saturday when Reading begin their first ever season in the top flight of english football.