Managerless Reading arrive at Deepdale on Saturday in the midst of a crisis having sacked previous manager following their 1-0 defeat at home to QPR last Thursday. To be honest it was hardly a surprise that Clarke was potted having gone to an interview for the vacant Fulham job a matter of days earlier, think it was put quite well by Adam Virgo on the Football League show, it's like gong out for a drink with an ex girlfriend but forgetting to tell your wife. Rumour has it that Brian McDermott will be returning as manager but not until after Saturday's game Having started the season well they have hit a poor run of form with only 1 win in nine games, losing their last three away games at Fulham, Cardiff and Forest. Blackman and Sa have scored the majority of goals for them but for both of them the goals have dried up in recent weeks. If you ever get the chance there is a book about mercurial Reading striker Robin Friday, the book is called the Greatest Footballer you never saw.it is well worth a read, also spent time at Cardiff and the Super Furry Animals recorded a track called the Man don't give a F@@k about his time there. Apart from the long term injuries we are at full strength both Woods and Bailey available, Woods was substitute last week, one blot on the horizon is that Big Sam is likely to recall Pickford in January which is a pity because he has probably been the best young goalkeeper I have seen in many a long year.
On another exceptionally soggy Saturday afternoon, North End put in their best home performance of hthe season winning by 1-0 against Reading through a Joe Garner penalty just after the start of the second half. After initial Reading pressure North End could have taken a very early lead when Reach fired in a rocket of a shot which hit the inside of the post and rebounded to safety, however the action wasn't all one way with Vydra excellently leading the line for the Royals. A very open game with Reading looking excellent onthe break swung to and fro in a very entertaining first half. Bond in the Reading nets was no to convincing in the early stages, he got lucky when he had a communication break down with Ferdinand during one home attack. North End using the wings with Reach having his best game in a North End and the ever improving Vermijl down the other flank were giving the Royals rearguard a nightmare, Garner won most headers against McShane and Ferdinand and the link up play was a joy to watch but they could not score which is always as Reading looked more than capable of netting at the other end. North End's defence had some hairy moments but there was also a white shirt that got in the way at the vital time. The second half began with Bond making two saves in a matter of seconds both excellent, from the resulting corner Garner's goalbound effort was well blocked by a posse of Royals defenders, however the goal was not long in coming. A ball was played down the left wing with Garner and McShane going for the ball, Garner yelled at the top of his voice and McShane misjudged the flight of the ball, Garner headed into the box and the byline, the lumbering McShane went into the back of Garner and down he went, penalty, Garner sent Bond the wrong way. North End were in full flow as Garner and Vermijl went close to adding to the lead, but the best chance of all came down the other end as Williams got in after some non too clever home defending he was turning away to celebrate scoring however he forgot to hit the target, a big let off. North End were in control and started to showboat at times, Reading were less than impressed as were their fans with the referee, but there were no more major alarms as North End ran out deserving winners. Two wins on the bounce, we are starting to grow into this division and even the rain stopped. Preston North End 1 Reading 0 Att 10600 Preston manager Simon Grayson: "I think when you look at the overall game; we're obviously playing a very talented Reading team. "But we said to the players before the game we had to make sure that we backed up last week's performance and victory with hopefully another one and I thought we were really positive from the start, took the game to them and could have had a couple of early opportunities. "But we kept on going and ultimately I think 1-0 was a fantastic victory for us but also, it could have been a lot clearer for us given the opportunities that we created and nearly took." Reading interim boss Martin Kuhl: "The penalty, you're looking at it and it comes from a mistake which at the moment we seem to be making. At the end they tried to give it a go, we had a good chance with Nick Blackman and we come away disappointed. "Whatever it is, a slight tightness or belief or whatever it is, he goes through and you're just thinking 'go on' and he puts it over, but at the beginning of the year he could shut his eyes and hit the back of the net - but that's football. "I believe at the moment I'm in charge until anything happens. I'm sure (the board) are trying to get something in place and hopefully the sooner the better."
