READING 1 - 2 LIVERPOOL
Saturday 7 April 2007 15:00 , Barclays Premiership
REDS BEAT READING TO STAY THIRD
Liverpool have tightened their grip on a Champions League place after goals from Alvaro Arbeloa and Dirk Kuyt gave them to a 2-1 win over Reading at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday that keeps them third in the Premiership.
Arbeloa's 15th minute strike, his first for the club, was cancelled out by Brynjar Gunnarsson at the start of the second half, but second half substitutes Jermaine Pennant and Dirk Kuyt combined to give the Reds all three points and complete an excellent week after wins over Arsenal and PSV Eindhoven. It's a sixth Premiership away win of the season for Liverpool.
The Reds came to Reading looking to make it a hat-trick of wins over Steve Coppell's side after beating them in the League and the Carling Cup at Anfield earlier this season; and Rafa Benitez once again made the most of his squad by making a number of changes, with the most notable being the return of Craig Bellamy to partner Peter Crouch in attack.
It was the Reading attack that provided the game's first threat when Hunt went down under a challenge from Reina before seeing claims for a penalty waved away. And the home side continued in the ascendancy when a cross into the area evaded Reina and Hunt just failed to reach it.
The Reds were under pressure, but they broke and took the lead against the run of play in the 15th minute when Alvaro Arbeloa scored his first goal for the club. It came when Arbeloa broke on the right and he continued into the area to collect Crouch's defence splitting pass to finish coolly beyond Hahnemann and into the net.
The goal gave Liverpool the platform they needed and they went on to enjoy a relatively untroubled first half while remaining dangerous themselves on the counter attack. Half time arrived without the addition of any further goals, but Rafa's men will have gone in satisfied with what they'd done so far.
Their satisfaction wouldn't last long though because Reading emerged and equalized at the start of the second half through Brynjar Gunnarsson. There was a suspicion of offside as Gunnarsson scored across Reina and in off the post, but the goal stood and the scores were level.
Liverpool responded instantly when Bellamy went down in the penalty area, but the referee ignored strong appeals for a penalty. And that was to be Bellamy's last act because Rafa replaced him with Dirk Kuyt in the 50th minute.
Reading's equalizer proved to be the catalyst for an all action second half. Within the space of a few minutes Reading almost took the lead when Crouch headed against his own crossbar and then Liverpool nearly went in front again when an out-stretched Gerrard just failed to convert Kuyt's pass.
It was end to end and it was anyone's guess who would win, but it was Liverpool who took a deserved three points when Jermaine Pennant crossed to Dirk Kuyt in the 85th minute and he scored with a close range header.
Teams
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Carragher, Finnan, Gonzalez, Sissoko, Mascherano, Gerrard MBE (captain), Crouch, Bellamy. Subs - Dudek, Kuyt, Pennant, Agger, Riise
Reading: Hahnemann, Shorey, Gunnarsson, Duberry, Harper, Hunt, Ingimarsson (captain), Sidwell, Oster, Doyle, Kitson. Subs - Bikey, Long, Halford, Lita, Federeci
Referee: P Walton
Conditions: Dry
Attendance: Unknown
THE FINAL WORD
Dirk Kuyt was the hero as he came off the bench to score a late winner and help Liverpool to a 2-1 win at Reading. Here's the best of the post-match reaction.
The Liverpool manager
"We knew it was going to be a difficult game. They are a tough side to play against and they pressed us and worked hard. I think we have done a good job and in the end I think we deserved to win. We had chances in the first half to kill the game, but at half-time we knew we still had to be careful because we remember how they came back against Manchester United earlier in the season. We made a mistake for their goal and then we had to try to change things by bringing on different players to give them more problems. We still have work to do to finish in the top four. We have to be careful, but hopefully we will play in the semi-final of the Champions League and if we can win enough games before then, it will enable us to focus on that competition."
Rafael Benitez
The opposition manager
"I thought we deserved a point and to lose the game and concede the goals the way we did is hard to take. For the first goal it was our free-kick and we had six in a line trying to attack it. I could see it wasn't set up right. Perhaps it was our naivety and urge to win the game that undid us. Sometimes we have that over-commitment to win games and attack too much. We need to be a bit more circumspect. We got ourselves into a mess for the second one and collectively it was a poor goal. Liverpool are a top quality side and you only have to look at the substitutes' they brought on to see that in Kuyt, Pennant and Riise. There was real potential on their bench to change things and that's the difference between a lot of sides and the big boys."
Steve Coppell
The local newspaper
"Liverpool have played far better than this and failed to win during this campaign, so the old argument about fortune balancing itself out could be justifiably dusted down and shoved into public view by those of a more pragmatic persuasion. A few substitutions and tactical shifts later and Liverpool found the urgency and penetration they'd been lacking. Kuyt and the lively Jermaine Pennant started to combine with Steven Gerrard and this was the catalyst for a 100 per cent improvement. Pennant's dribble and pinpoint cross gave Kuyt the kind of opportunity he's been lacking in recent months, and he stole the points with a close-range header."
Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo
The broadsheet newspaper
"Three victories, nine goals, a place in the Champions League semi-finals there for the taking and a top-four Premiership spot now virtually assured. Even for a club like Liverpool who demand success, the past eight days have provided particularly rich pickings. They were not that convincing winners here, though, allowing Reading to come back strongly in the second half for what looked like a point until Dirk Kuyt's late winner. But when it mattered most, they just had the edge - and there could be no argument about the way Rafael Benitez swopped things around to telling effect when the tide was turning against them."
Stuart Barnes, The Observer
The Liverpool supporter
"We showed an attribute which we are going to need next season if we are to win the league - we won while playing badly. Inconsistency, not scoring during our good spells in games and not winning when we haven't played particularly well have been some of the reasons why we've failed to challenge for the league this season. While it has been a bit of a disappointing season domestically and one which we have underachieved, if we finish this season on a high and go into the next one with great confidence then I fully believe we will win number 19 next season."
Blue-eyed Kop Girl, LFC.TV Message Boards