Reading 0 Charlton 1 (Vetokele 38).
Kevin Nolan reports from the Madejski Stadium.
A stubborn, brave rearguard action, punctuated by intelligent counter-attacking, provided the perfect formula for Charlton’s magnificent victory in Royal Berkshire. A wonderful winning goal in the first half proved enough to do the trick and though there were rough spots along the way, Bob Peeters’s remarkably resilient team were good value for their second away win of the season.
The goal itself was a beauty, fashioned and completed by two players on top of their game. The spade work was done by Chris Solly, the surgical finish applied by Igor Vetokele, a striker who needed just one chance to settle the issue.
A third contributor, Callum Harriott, played his part initially by resolutely retaining possession under pressure before working the ball out to Solly, seemingly trapped on the right touchline by Jonatha Obita. Nimbly stepping inside the winger on to his left foot, the peerless full back whipped in a deliciously flighted cross. Timing his leap to perfection, Vetokele did his bit by bulleting an unstoppable header across Adam Federici into the top left corner to notch up his eighth goal in just fifteen starts.
While an overwhelming 12-0 corner count implies intense one-way traffic towards Stephen Henderson’s goal, there was more than meets the eye about the Addicks’ resistance. The Royals enjoyed a decisive edge in possession but a defensive shield restricted them to scuffed chances, bits and pieces, odds and ends. Until Jamie Mackie’s ferocious angled drive was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Henderson, there was little else to directly trouble the calm keeper -and that blockbuster arrived as late as the 80th minute. Before then, a series of blocks and interceptions, most of them orchestrated by intimidating roadblocks Tal Ben Haim and Andre Bikey, kept the strikes on goal to a minimum. With the majority of those12 corners disappearing into the faultless hands of Henderson, it became clear that for all their swarming aggression, Reading were delivering rather less than they promised.
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Most of the home side’s hopes were apparently based on the belief that Obita’s left wing trickery held the key to breaking down Charlton’s defensive organisation. On any normal afternoon, the simple tactic might have worked but, in the imperturbable Solly, Obita more than met his match. He was the unwilling foil in a masterclass of the full back arts, channelled exactly where his tormentor wanted him, encouraged in the forlorn hope that he had the beating of his immaculate marker. And when Solly turned the tables to lay on Vetokele’s winner, there was something of the matador’s satisfaction in a clean kill.
Buoyed by their 3-0 midweek demolition of Rotherham United, the Royals began confidently and Glenn Murray should have made more of Chris Gunter’s inviting cross than the mess he made of glancing it wide of the left post. Ben Haim made a key intervention to deal with Obita’s cutback, then Oliver Norwood’s inswinging corner flicked to safety off an involuntary foot.
In response, Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s crisp drive popped harmlessly out of Federici’s hands and Harriott lamely prodded Vetokele’s clever pass wide. The Addicks were improving but their goal, when it arrived, came as a mild surprise. Central defender Michael Hector helped them stay in front when he headed Obita’s corner off target.
Still a threat as the years advance, Murray cut in after the break but his shot deflected off Bikey’s head for yet another fruitless corner. On 56 minutes, Norwood came closest so far to opening his side’s account with a low drive which beat Henderson but rebounded off the base of an upright. Roared on by a studiously polite crowd – none of that incestuous Addams family rudeness in these posh shires – Reading continued their increasingly desperate search for an equaliser but it was their beleaguered visitors who broke clear in a bid for a decisive second goal.
Played through by Gudmundsson’s devastating through pass, substitute George Tucudean closed in on Federici but shot against the advancing keeper’s body. Seizing on the rebound, Tucudean tried again but was again thwarted by Federici’s mastery of the angle. His misses might have proved costly had referee Neil Swarbrick agreed with Murray’s claim that Ben Haim’s clumsy challenge on him inside the penalty area was a foul. Ben Haim breathed again, as did skipper Johnnie Jackson who cynically took a booking for the team when hauling back an escaping Norwood.
And so Peeters’ underestimated side marches on, upsetting the odds as they go. They kicked off this match quoted disrespectfully at 5-2 against a team three points worse off and owners of a comical 22-26 goal difference. Needless to say, I wasn’t on them.
Reading: Federici, Gunter, Pearce, Hector, Kelly (Blackman 77), Williams, Norwood, Mackie (Pogrebnyak 86), Cox (Robson-Kanu 76), Obita, Murray. Not used: Akpan, Taylor, Andersen, Cooper.
Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Ben Haim, Bikey, Fox, Cousins, Gudmundsson (Bulot 87), Buyens, Jackson, Harriott (Tucudean 80), Vetokele (Coquelin 63), Not used: Pope, Wilson, Gomez, Onyewu.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick. Att: 16,989 (1449 visiting).