Argyle Battle For Point Against Reading

Plymouth Argyle gained another valuable point against promotion chasing Reading at Home Park. Argyle twice took the lead through Gallagher and Mackie, but Reading were able to equalise both goals. Rory Fallon also had an effort chalked out for offside, although there is some doubt whether the decision was correct.

There was a good crowd at Home Park, despite the rain. The pitch, which looked excellent against Watford, showed the effects of having 2 games in a week.

Argyle replaced Sawyer for Barker, but were disrupted during the game with an early injury to Cathcart, and Gallagher was substituted at half time.

The game started and was fairly end to end. Reading had the first real break when Long attacked down the right. His dangerous low cross was well cut out by Gray for a corner. This was the first of a number of interceptions made by the on loan Manchester United right back. A minute later and Argyle won several crunching tackles in the midfield area and the ball broke to Judge, on the left. He attacked full back, Rosenior, and pushed the ball past him. Rosenior fouled Judge with a late tackle and was correctly booked by the referee.

The game was played in and around the midfield, but Argyle broke the deadlock in the 19th minute. Argyle were awarded a free kick by the linesman for a clear foul on the left hand side of the half way line. Gary Sawyer floated a deep cross to the far post, which was excellently headed back across goal by Ashley Barnes. Paul Gallagher met the ball in the 6 yard box, with a volley into the roof of the net. Another good goal for the striker, who at that point had scored Argyle’s last 5 goals.

But, as against Sheffield United, Argyle lost concentration and allowed the vistors back into the game, minutes after taking the lead. Chicken-legged winger, Jimmy Kebe, attacked down the left and crossed to the near post, but an Argyle defender deflected wide for a corner. Reading took a short corner, which Argyle didn’t react quickly enough to defend, and Matejovsky’s left wing cross, was met by Alex Pearce with a powerful header. The ball flew into the net, giving Romain no chance and Reading were level. Argyle had held the lead for 2 minutes!

From the kick off, Judge ran at the Reading defence and shot from 25 yards, but Federici saved comfortably diving low to his left. On 24 minutes, Argyle made their first substitution with Timar replacing Cathcart.

One minute later and Pearce almost scored again from a Reading corner. As Hunt prepared to take the set piece, from the right, the Argyle defensive unit look nervous. Hunt took the kick and Pearce again met the ball with a strong head, and the ball was going into the opposite corner to which he had scored. Larrieu was beaten again, but thankfully, Gallagher was following his defensive duties and headed off the line at Larrieu’s right hand post.

The game again returned to a midfield battle. The referee, who wasn’t as bad as some of his recent colleagues, started to make some odd decisions, seemingly in Reading’s favour. Duberry appeared to be able to push, pull, hold but was never penalised, whereas any slight knock, from an Argyle player, resulted in a Reading free kick.

On 37 minutes, Reading played the ball across the pitch from left to right, behind Gary Sawyer. The defender looked to struggle to reach the ball, and was beaten by the swift Shane Long, who did well to keep the ball on the pitch. Long passed to Kebe who reached the byline, and crossed low into the Argyle 6 yard box. Doyle took control of the ball and scuffed a shot, which Hunt followed up with a goalbound effort, but Gray was able to deflect wide for a corner.

The game reached half time without further incident. The pitch was causing problems for both teams, and had an effect on the passing game. Reading’s on loan Southampton centre back, Pearce, looked very impressive both in defence and at set pieces. Argyle had played some decent football, with most of the better moves involving Gallagher. Barnes had won some headers, most notably setting up Gallagher for the goal, but struggled at times against Pearce and Duberry.

The second half started, and Argyle made there second substitution. Gallagher was replaced by Fallon, and some Argyle fans must have wondered whether Argyle would score again.

On 48 minutes Gray showed his defensive qualities. Kebe attacked down the Reading left and played the ball to the overlapping Armstrong. Gray confronted Armstrong who tried to use his skill to manouevre a cross. The Scottish right back was having none of it, and put in two bone crunching tackles to prevent the cross and won a goal kick for the team. After the second fair challenge, Armstrong had to receive several minutes of treatment from the Reading physio.

On 52 minutes Reading almost scored again from a corner. Hunt played the ball in and Seip tried to clear but managed to connect in the 6 yard box. The ball looked destined for the net, but Larrieu performed another of his world class saves and acrobatically flicked the ball onto the post and off for a corner.

Argyle again took the lead in the 56th minute and it was a moment to savour. Mackie won the ball in the Argyle half and played a poor ball to Duguid, as he was challenged by several Reading players. Duguid stretched and managed to flick the ball over his shoulder into Mackie’s path. With a burst of speed and skill, Mackie ran at the retreating Reading defence. Mackie then hit a rocket from 25 yards which flew into Federici’s top right hand corner, giving the Aussie no chance. Home Park will not have witnessed many better goals, and it must be a contender for goal of the season. I’m sure ITV’s Championship audience will be impressed.

Argyle were in the ascendancy and attacked the Reading goal 2 minutes later. Judge strangely won a Larrieu goal kick against Duberry (who took a knock in the process) and laid the ball to Fallon, who was clear. From the edge of the 18 yard box, Fallon hit a grass cutter shot which Federici allowed to bounce of his chest. From the rebound, Barnes engineered a pass to Fallon, whose shot was deflected for a corner, but the Kiwi striker was offside.

The Reading mascot, a Lion (Is Reading famous for Lions???), was sat with their fans in the Barn Park End, and tried to entice the Reading fans into a song. He was met with deadly silenece, which was quite funny. The Reading fans were obviously concerned that Argyle were winning and looked like adding.

In the 63rd minute, Argyle won a corner after good work between Fallon, Mackie and Gray. The corner was played in and was headed out by the defence, but an Argyle player headed back into the box. Barnes overhead kicked the ball towards goal, and Fallon connected with a good finish. The ball beat Federici and the Home Park crowd started to celebrate, but the linesman’s flag ruled the effort out. It will be interesting to see the replay.

The offside decision seemed to knock Argyle’s confidence, and Reading started to edge their way back into the game. On 64 minutes, Fletcher hit a clearance against a Reading player and the ball fell to Doyle in an attacking position. Doyle had a clear run at goal and shot. Larrieu ran off his line to meet the striker and was able to deflect the shot just wide of the post. From the resulting corner, Cisse appeared to control the ball with his hand, but the ref allowed play to continue. Cisse turned and hit a shot which rebounded off Larrieu’s crossbar. Reading attacked again and crossed but the ball was headed wide, for a goal kick, amongst a mass body of players. In the melee Pearce was injured and was replaced by Cameroon international, Andre Bikey.

Reading pressed for the equaliser and Argyle rode their luck at times. One disappointing feature was that the Argyle players returned to hitting the ball anywhere away from goal, allowing Reading to immediately regain possession and attack.

On 78 minutes Argyle replaced Judge, who had another tireless game, with Patterson. Patterson lined up in the left midfield position. The change may have had a counter-productive effect. Reading won a throw in on their right shortly after. The ball was chipped forward by Matejovsky, and a combination of the Argyle defence hesitating and Kebe’s lightning quick pace, saw the Malian winger race through clean on goal. Larrieu ran out, but Kebe’s shot went through the Frenchman’s legs and into the goal. Shortly after Reading replaced Cisse with Harper.

Reading pressed for the winner, and on 85 minutes broke down the right. Rosenior, overlapping the midfield, raced onto the ball and crossed to the far post. Hunt’s header looked goal bound, but deflected off Gray for a corner, just going wide of the post.

On 88 minutes the pressure intensified on the Argyle defence. Seip’s headed clearance was poor and Reading attacked down the right. Matejovsky’s low cross was air kicked by Gray and Long fortunately didn’t anticipate and the ball was cleared.

The fourth official showed 3 minutes of injury time, and after being on the defensive, Argyle attacked. After a defelcetd Barnes shot, the ball was laid back to Duguid, on the edge of the box, but his curling shot went over. The ref blew shortly after.

Argyle’s unbeaten run is now at 4 games, and the Greens must continue their current form in the next 2 away games against Swansea and Norwich. Of the teams in the bottom half only Watford and Palace won. Argyle look to have pulled away from second bottom Norwich, but Argyle have played 1 or 2 more games than other teams, so could easily drop back into the mire.

Reading were a good side, with Premiership quality players, and it would be surprising if they are not in the top flight next season. At times Argyle struggled, but there was a 20 minute period in the second half where Argyle dominated and it could have been a different result if Fallon’s goal had stood.

The team spirit and belief is returning to the side, and this was demonstrated by a huddle, by the Argyle players, on the pitch after the full time whistle.

Let’s keep up the unbeaten run!