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DONCASTER 1 READING 2 - MATCH REPORT
THE Royals continue to reign in Doncaster after collecting their fifth successive win in the town on Saturday night.
You have to go back over 25 years, to the classic 12-goal thriller at Belle Vue, for Rovers 'last win over Reading on home soil.
But they were unlucky to not have at least shared the spoils, and 10-man Reading had to survive a nail-biting finish to claim their first back-to-back wins of a troubled season and sentence Rovers to a third successive Championship defeat.
Reading remain in the bottom three but have a handful of teams - which now include Rovers - currently hovering just above the relegation zone in their sights.
A game which had looked to be drifing away from Rovers when Reading doubled their lead on 77 minutes with Brian Howard's second goal of the season was turned on its head three minutes later.
Former Rovers favourite Matt Mills, making his first return to the Keepmoat Stadium since his seven-figure summer move to Reading, was adjusted to have deliberately handled Gareth Roberts' shot on the line and was subsequently sent off.
Mills protested his innocence after the game, claiming that the ball had struck his body.
"I've not seen it (the incident) myself, but I've spoken to other people and they say the ball hit my chest,'' he said.
"So I don't see why it was a penalty - and I didn't at the time.
''It was a big win for us; when you are in the relegation zone then three points is massive.
"I thought Doncaster were fantastic.
"There were times when they passed the ball around and it looked like they'd got an extra man in midfield; I thought that they were different class.
"But I thought that we shut the door well today and it was a very professional performance.''
Mills admitted that the last 10 minutes of normal time and the six minutes of stoppage time had been anxious for him stood on the sidelines.'
Rovers' leading scorer, Billy Sharp, had no doubts that it was a penalty and converted the resulting spot-kick to score his first goal of 2010 and spark off a grandstand finish which should have brought better reward.
Said Sharp: "I felt that we were back in the game at that stage. We'd got it back to 2-1 and they were down to 10 men and we were on top and creating chances, but we just couldn't find an equaliser.
"Hayts (James Hayter) hit the crossbar and their keeper made two excellent saves.''
One of Adam Federici's saves denied an angled shot by Sharp, which had taken a deflection off a defender.
The other came right at the death when he did well to tip a clever 20-yard chip by skipper Brian Stock over the bar for a corner.
Rovers had new signing Shelton Martis, who played five games on loan last season, making his debut in the heart of the defence.
James Coppinger, who invariably plays well in front of the cameras, got a 25-yarder on target in the fifth minute but Federici was well placed to save.
Midfielder Mark Wilson shot just wide of the left-hand post two minutes later.
Martis saw a lot of the ball in the opening 15 minutes and it was like he had never been away.
Rovers keeper Neil Sullivan saved well, at the expense of a corner, from a well-struck 20 yard free-kick by Ryan Bertrand on 16 minutes.
There was a let-off for Rovers on 22 minutes when Howard headed wide when well placed after beating James O'Connor to Jimmy Kebe's right-wing cross in front of goal.
Sharp, who was happier with his performance than in some recent games, shot over at the other end after doing well to create the chance.
Reading took the lead on 39 minutes when Howard did well to get in cross from wide out on the right - Martis being guilty of not closing him down enough - and striker Shane Long headed home for his second goal in as many games.
Rovers continued to take the game to Reading after the break and Dean Shiels, who had more time than he probably thought, volleyed high and wide from around 12 yards after James Chambers' byline cross had taken a deflection off Mills in front of goal.
Rovers lost their way for a spell midway through the second half and allowed Reading to grab the initiative.
When Howard celebrated his first start for over two months by side-footing the ball through defender Sam Hird's legs to make it 2-0 Reading's fifth away win of the season looked to be all but assured. But that's not how it quite turned out, and they had to dig deep to deny Rovers a share of the spoils that their efforts deserved.
Said sponsors' man of the match James Chambers: "They looked a decent side.
"But I think if you look at the chances we had and the possession that we had - especially after they had had a man sent-off - I think it is fair to say that we deserved something out of the game.
"It was an even game. I don't know if I am being a bit biased, but I thought we edged it.
"We cut them open at times but the ball didn't bounce for us in and around the box and their keeper pulled off a few good saves. It was just one of those days."
Said Sharp: "We just need to tighten one or two things up and get the breaks that we haven't been getting in recent weeks.
"We just need to get a win under our belts because we haven't won for a bit now.
"We've got two tough games coming up this week but every game is winnable."
O'Kelly's View
I thought that we were the better side in the first half and we were unlucky to be behind at half-time.
We didn't defend the cross and it was a good finish. We knew all about Long and what he can do.
We kept the ball well in the first half and we played some good football, but I thought that we could have done a bit better in the final third.
What do you think? Add your comment below.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
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