Reading 3 - 1 West BromLucas Piazon seals Reading fightback to kill off West Brom’s Cup ambitions
Home team scorers
Paul McShane 59
Michael Hector 72
Lucas Piazon 90 +3:09
Away team scorers
Darren Fletcher 54
Lucas Piazon celebrates scoring Reading’s third goal in their surprise victory over West Brom.
These are clearly boom times in the West Midlands, if not for the local football team. Midfielder Chris Brunt had to be restrained by stewards after being hit just below the eye by what photographs suggested was a £2 coin thrown from a densely packed away end as he attempted to present his jersey to a young fan in the wake of West Brom’s FA Cup humbling at the hands of comparatively lowly Reading.
“Unfortunately it’s the way the game’s going,” said West Brom manager Tony Pulis. “Social media and everything else – it builds up an anti-feeling when things are not going well at football clubs. We’ve had a situation today where a lad who’s played over 300 games for this club could have had his eye out. It’s just not acceptable and I hope the police get involved. It’s barbaric.”
Moments before the afternoon took such an unexpectedly ugly turn, an injury-time goal from substitute Lucas Piazon had sealed a thoroughly deserved victory for Reading as they came from behind to advance to the last eight for the second successive season.
Darren Fletcher had given the visitors the lead, before Paul McShane and then Michael Hector took turns to convert Oliver Norwood free-kicks with close range headers that left West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster hopelessly exposed and with little or no chance.
Chris Brunt confronts West Brom fans after being hit by object at Reading
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In an always absorbing match that took almost an hour to burst into life, Reading enjoyed the better of matters almost throughout. In the first half, McShane pounced to smash a volley inches wide of Ben Foster’s left upright before the goalkeeper showed remarkable agility to tip a looping Hal Robson-Kanu header over the bar after the Welshman had leapt to greet a splendid cross from the always menacing Norwood.
Enjoying the freedom of the Madejski Stadium, Fletcher opened the scoring after 55 minutes. Picking up a pass on the edge of the Reading penalty area from Salomón Rondón, he needed just one touch before drilling a shot across Ali Al Habsi into the bottom left-hand corner to the delight of the travelling 4,000. Their celebrations were short-lived, as McShane marked the hour-mark with his first goal for Reading, converting a Norwood free-kick from the left with a bullet header from close range to which Foster got a hand, but was unable to keep out.
Semi-finalists for the second time in their history last season, Reading suffered the heartbreak of defeat in extra time against Arsenal last year but had shown few signs of any lasting torment. The scorer of five of their nine goals in two previous rounds, Matej Vydra was consigned to the bench with a hamstring strain until just before his side’s opener, allowing Latvian international Rakels to make his first start for the club. Cox was also a surprise inclusion, as Yann Kermorgant and George Evans missed out through being cup-tied.
West Brom’s Cup progress had been less convincing and they fielded a strong side here. Pulis made just two changes from the side that mugged Everton a week previously: Sandro and Chris Brunt coming in for Claudio Yacob and the not-quite-fit Craig Dawson. The luck they pushed against the Toffees ran out on this occasion.
Reading’s second was not entirely dissimilar to their opener, with Hector nodding home from a tight angle after yet another teasing cross from Norwood. The Chelsea loanee chose a fine time to score his first goal of the season and substitute John should have put the game beyond West Brom soon after, only for a heavy touch to let him down as he sped towards the penalty area.
“We’ve got players who can score from set plays,” said McDermott. “To get a couple from set plays today was absolutely fantastic because I know Tony prides himself on not conceding from set plays.
“Tony put out a really strong side tonight and it’s a great result for us. We’re trying to build something special here. Everybody wants everything immediately, but it takes time to build what we’re trying to achieve.”
As West Brom laid siege to the Reading goal with a series of long balls into the box in the closing minutes, Darren Fletcher missed the pick of their chances before substitute Lucas Piazon found himself in space on the edge of the penalty area and struck deep in injury time to heap further Reading-induced embarrassment on West Brom.
As the players left the field, one of West Brom’s otherwise impeccably behaved fans reached into his pocket, removed a coin and proceeded to add to the embarrassment.
Guardian
