2014-09-28

Updates as Wolves travel to the Madejski Stadium

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2.07pm BST

And thats the break. Reading deserve their lead, perhaps not because theyve been especially good, but theyve definitely been superior to the visitors, who have been rotten. Dont know if Kenny Jackett is the sort of manager who offers rockets to under-performing players at half-time, but if he is then hell have to launch one the size of a Soviet missile hiding in Cuba if Wolves are to get anything from this one.

2.05pm BST

45 mins + 3: Murray nips ahead of Danny Batth to get a long pass and goes down, claiming a penalty, but nothing doing from the officials.

2.04pm BST

45 mins + 2: Henry makes tracks down the right, but as Sako and Clarke come short, the cross goes long. Wolves, Wolves, Wolves.

2.03pm BST

45 mins: Taylor gets a booking for a clumsy, if not rambunctious challenge on McDonald, then has the temerity to argue with the proffered yellow card. Three minutes added time.

2.02pm BST

44 mins: Sako displays that mixture of power and delicacy that makes him one of the most dangerous players in the division, belting down the left and evading two defenders before clipping over an early cross, but its just in front of Clarke.

2.01pm BST

43 mins: Is John Madejski still stepping out with Cilla Black?

1.59pm BST

41 mins: Wolves win another corner, and another neat precis of their game is provided as the ball breaks to McDonald on the edge of the area, but he leans back, cuts across the thing and it tails away from goal, landing gently in some chaps lap in the stands.

1.56pm BST

38 mins: Hector shrugs off the attentions of Clarke and plays a Michael Dawson-esque long diagonal pass, the difference in his case being that it finds the intended target. Obita plays in a low cross that Murray tries to control but merely directs into the path of Hope Akpan, but he cant get much behind the shot and Ikeme saves.

1.55pm BST

37 mins: Ikeme sums up the Wolves performance rather neatly by hoying a simple backpass pointlessly out of play, under no pressure at all. Not good this so far, from Jacketts boys.

1.53pm BST

35 mins: Sako eschews the standard approach of trying to run around or past defenders, and instead attempts to go through them. Alas, as strong as the lad is, he cannot, and another Wolves attack dies before it has the chance to breathe in and enjoy life.

1.50pm BST

32 mins: Wolves nearly find something from a corner, but as with almost everything in their play this afternoon, its not quite right, and the ball bops around the area before eventually being cleared. Reading try to counter, but as Blackman advances down the right he takes a heavy touch and, to much mirth from the traveling support, kicks the thing straight out of play.

1.48pm BST

30 mins: Doherty is back on the pitch but hes limping very heavily. Ethan Ebanks-Landell is the logical choice to come on. Bafflingly, the Reading crowd are booing the injured man. Knock this on the head at once, please.

1.46pm BST

28 mins: Eesh, that didnt look pretty. Taylor and Matt Doherty clash heads, both go down but the bonce isnt Dohertys problem, as he landed horribly on his ankle, turning it in a direction that ankles should not turn. He will require some attention.

1.44pm BST

26 mins: Wolves finally do something, as Kevin McDonald plays a cracking, defence-splitting pass to Clarke, who controls beautifully but finishes woefully. Its all moot mind, as the flag went up for another marginal offside.

1.42pm BST

24 mins: OOooooof. Murray tries a rifle shot from about 25-yards out, capitalising on another Wolves error, but it flashes wide. Cox was in a much better position and wouldve been through on goal had Murray chosen a simple five-yard pass, but wheres the fun in that?

1.40pm BST

21 mins: An early chance aside, Wolves have looked half-asleep here today. They havent built anything of any imagination in attack, and that defending was dozy in the extreme, allowing Norwood and Obita to do as they pleased out on the right.

Meanwhile, as colleague Daniel Harris points out, Hectors celebratory dance recalled one Chris Kiwomya.

1.37pm BST

19 mins: Well, that was all too easy for Reading. A short corner is worked and for some reason only one Wolves defender comes out to combat it, leaving Norwood with as much time as he likes to measure a cross. He measures it right onto the bonce of Hector at the near post, and he belts the header home.

1.36pm BST

Hector gives the home side the lead!

1.35pm BST

17 mins: Always a source of great amusement that you can hear the accents of the Wolves fans very clearly in their chanting. Saville looks for Sako down the left, but the pass is too strong. Jackett makes notes on the sidelines. The pass was too strong, one imagines he wrote. That or a haiku.

1.32pm BST

14 mins: Another chance for Reading - Cox barrels forwards through the middle, and does well to recover after seeming to get the ball caught under his feet. He feeds it to the right and Murray, who has a certain amount of space, but ruins things by aiming for the near post with his shot, rather than the textbook far, and it goes wide.

1.31pm BST

13 mins: Reading go close. Jordan Obita whips in the cross from that Sako-conceded free-kick, to which Simon Cox gets his head and flicks the ball goalwards, but it sails about a foot wide.

1.30pm BST

12 mins: Jake Taylor tries to conjure something on the left, but a neat-looking pass inside with his right foot goes awry. Chris Gunter then scampers down the right but is bundled over in a rather oafish manner by Bakary Sako.

1.28pm BST

10 mins: Reading do their best to build something of note. The ball is fed out to the right and Nick Blackman, and he loops a long cross to the far post aiming for Glenn Murray, but the on-loan Crystal Palace forward is offside. Only just offside, but offside nonetheless. Take note, Kevin Nolan and Samuel Allardyce.

1.25pm BST

8 mins: Fairly quiet opening. Clarke looks like he gets on the business side of Michael Hector, but recoils as if pulled back - largely because he was, and Pearce nips in to clear the thing away.

1.23pm BST

5 mins: First big chance of the day. Some neat passing gives Leon Clarke the chance to put George Saville free, which he does, and the midfielder takes his time to measure the shot, but hits it straight at Adam Federici. The ball bounces out to Lee Evans, but he cant control the follow-up and thumps it over the bar.

1.21pm BST

2 mins: Oliver Norwood, who if he was a bit better youd describe him as mercurial, starts the game in maverick fashion by drilling a long, purposeful pass down the centre of the pitch to absolutely nobody. Nobody of any use, anyway - Carl Ikeme in the Wolves nets gathers gratefully.

1.18pm BST

1 min: Were off. Its also the Stephen Hunt derby, reminds colleague Alan Smith (not that one, or that one), and rightly so.

1.17pm BST

Nigel Pearson wouldnt lend you his drill. He keeps his drill selection in a locked cabinet in his garage, neatly arranged, cataloged and accounted for. You wouldnt ask, either. Hed just glare at you and go back to buffing his Volvo.

1.14pm BST

Nigel Adkins seems like a nice man, doesnt he? The sort of chap who would definitely lend you his drill if he lived next door to you. And he wouldnt even mind if you broke the bit. Just replace it when you can, hed say, before inviting you round for drinks and nibbles with Angie next Friday.

1.05pm BST

Bit of a shame Aaron Kuhl isnt in the Reading starting line-up today, a central midfielder who looked absurdly assured for an 18-year-old in the early parts of the season, but has lost his spot in recent weeks. Possibly just worthwhile having in the side for his hair, which is David Luiz-esque.

1.00pm BST

Beefs! Aggro! Rivalries! Head-to-heads! Stramashes! Square-gos! Well, not really, but there are a couple of ex-Reading players in the Wolves ranks, as Kenny Jackett discusses here:

If Scott (Golbourne) is selected, I think Reading will see a more mature player as its quite a number of years ago he was at Reading, as was James Henry.

Theyre two ex-Reading players who Im sure will be looking forward to going back to their old club and playing. I think Scott has been quoted as saying that Nicky Shorey was there at the time and he was in the England squad.

12.53pm BST

So then. Nouha Dicko misses out for Wolves after not recovering in time from a hamstring injury picked up in their last game, but other than that Jacketts side are pretty much as expected.

For Reading, Glenn Murray and Oliver Norwood are back after missing the midweek League Cup game because they were cup-tied. Danny Guthrie is only fit enough for the bench, while Adam Federici features despite doubts over a calf problem.

12.28pm BST

Federici; Gunter (C), Obita, Hector, Pearce; Akpan, Norwood, Taylor; Blackman, Cox, Murray. Subs: Andersen, Long, Cooper, Kuhl, Guthrie, Mackie, Porgrebnyak

12.24pm BST

The Old Firm. The El Clasico. The Superclasico. Le Classique. The derby della Madonnina. The derby dItalia. Manchester. Istanbul. North London. Merseyside. Classic rivalries, all. To them, we can now add this, the game that will surely go down in history as the Kevin Doyle derby. But while in the other games mentioned the clubs are divided by hate, the only thing they have in common being a dislike for each other, this is altogether more friendly, as Reading and Wolves are united in hilarity, joined together in incredulity that the man they once both called theirs is still a Premier League player.

12.15pm BST

Nick will be here shortly. In the meantime, heres Paul Wilson on Blackpool.

Felix Magath has some nerve claiming he was sacked before he could turn the club around when Fulham currently lie bottom of the Championship with just one point from a possible 24. After eight games last season Fulham were mid-table in the Premier League, courtesy of victories over Sunderland, Stoke and Crystal Palace and, though the rot set in shortly afterwards ,they were still capable of doubles over Aston Villa and Norwich.

But that was last season. All the Fulham board have to do in defence of their action against Magath is point to the present Championship table.

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