Reading were far from at their best, but they got the job done on Good Friday.
Shabby
In hindsight, even though Reading won the game, we’re now coming away from the stadium feeling that we managed to even without being at our best. That’s a scenario that we’ve not often seen in the last year or so.
Almost all of our big hitters – Sam Smith, Harvey Knibbs, Femi Azeez and to a lesser degree Lewis Wing – had so-so kind of games. Joel Pereira saved our bacon a couple of times with some smart saves, but in truth, he didn’t have to do a great deal beyond that.
Our best players, other than El Gato, were Amadou Mbengue and the ever-impressive Tyler Bindon, who belied his years with another fantastic, mature performance. In fact, all of the back four weren’t too shabby at all.
The rest, not so much. Smith was effectively marked out of the game and thus couldn’t add to his continuous goal-scoring feats. Knibbs bustled about with some of his usual pressing game coming to the fore but couldn’t affect the game beyond that. Azeez tried hard, but nothing (and I mean, literally nothing) came off for him. Wing still had influence in his usual quarterback position but by no means was close to his recent high standards.
Almost all of our big hitters – Sam Smith, Harvey Knibbs, Femi Azeez and to a lesser degree Lewis Wing – had so-so kind of games. Joel Pereira saved our bacon a couple of times with some smart saves, but in truth, he didn’t have to do a great deal beyond that.
Our best players, other than El Gato, were Amadou Mbengue and the ever-impressive Tyler Bindon, who belied his years with another fantastic, mature performance. In fact, all of the back four weren’t too shabby at all.
The rest, not so much. Smith was effectively marked out of the game and thus couldn’t add to his continuous goal-scoring feats. Knibbs bustled about with some of his usual pressing game coming to the fore but couldn’t affect the game beyond that. Azeez tried hard, but nothing (and I mean, literally nothing) came off for him. Wing still had influence in his usual quarterback position but by no means was close to his recent high standards.
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That said, Charlie Savage continued to improve game on game with a tenacious and intelligent performance.
Curled
The less said about poor Ben Elliott the better – he had a stinker out on the left wing, which, as we all know, isn’t his position anyway. He had a shaky start, got booked for a mistimed challenge (possibly trying too hard), almost cost us a goal when he lost possession as the last man, and then proceeded to disappear from proceedings.
It was a surprise he reappeared after half-time in truth. He might have wished to have stayed in the dressing room rather than reappear for the second half.
But cometh the hour, cometh the Ehibhatiomhan. For the second game in succession, super Kelv unleashed a beauty, this one curling majestically into the bottom corner after great work from Jeriel Dorsett. It was the immediate anti-thesis of Elliott’s spluttering performance to score the winner a mere six minutes after his introduction. It was a strike that was worthy of winning any game.
And that’s the statement of the game: that, despite a fair few of our players not being at their peak, we can now grind out results regardless. It’s a far cry from the start of the season when we looked lost at sea; we have come so far in that short space of time.
Northampton are no mugs in this division, but we’ve got the determination and togetherness now not to panic or feel sorry for ourselves when some are struggling to find their ”A” game.
We’re as good as many teams in the division that are well established League One operators. Considering everything this season, that’s no mean feat. We can still be well below par, and come out with the W.
