Reserverna kryssade
Aston Villa tog emot Reading på Villa Park igår kväll och det var två namnkunniga lag som till slut fick dela på poängen.
Aston Villa ställde upp med en 4-4-1-1 uppställning.
Stuart Taylor vaktade målet sedan följde backlinjen från höger Erik Lund, Zat Knight, Nathan Baker och Stephen O´Halloran.
Mittfältet bestod av Wayne Routledge, Moustapha Salifou, Isaiah Osbourne och Barry Bannan. fri roll som offensiv mittfältare var Patrik Berger och ensam på topp spelade Nathan Delfouneso.
Reading ställde upp med ett namnkunnit gäng bla Adam Federici i mål, Aston Villa bekantingen Ulises "Useless" De La Cruz, Afrikanska mästerskapens buse André Bikey, Liam Rosenior, Leroy Lita, Shane Long och Jimmy Kebe.
Innan matchen så var det en tyst minut för en gammal Villahjälte som nyligen gått bort Jimmy Dugdale.
Dugdale var bla med när Aston Villa vann FA Cup finalen över Manchester Utd 1957.
Han gjorde 3 mål på 215 ligamatcher för Aston Villa.
Efter den tysta minuten så blåste den kvinnliga domaren Amy Rayner i gång matchen.
Reading fick en kanonstart på matchen sedan Shane Long knoppat in ledningsmålet redan i den 20 minuten.
Innan det så hade Delfouneso bränt ett par farliga lägen.
3 minuter senare så var Lita fri med Taylor, men Taylor gjorde en kanonräddning och räddade Villa kvar i matchen.
I den 27 min så spelade Delfouneso vackert fram bollen till veteranen Patrik Berger som dock inte hade siktet inställt.
Delfouneso nickade strax över ribban på stopptid i den första halvleken när han mötte ett briljant inlägg från Bannan.
I den 52 min så räddade Erik Lund ett skott på mållinjen av Shane Long, som i momentet innan brände 2 jättechanser som Taylor dubbelräddat.
Aston Villas kvittering kom i den 56 min då Stephen O´Halloran mötte Patrik Bergers frispark med pannan och 1-1 var ett faktum.
Delfouneso fortsatte att irritera de rutinerade Reading försvararna och hade 2-3 lägen att avgöra matchen men det ville sig inte den här kvällen för "91:an".
1-1 slutade den här reservlagsmatchen och det roliga är att Delfouneso och Bannan fortsätter att glänsa och åter får beröm efter matchen.
Laget:
Taylor, Lund, Baker, Knight, O´Halloran,
Routledge, Salifou, Osbourne, Bannan,
Berger,
Delfouneso,
Subs:
Bevan, D Bellon, Earls, Collins (Berger 61), Albrighton (Bannan 85)
Betyg från Villatalk:
Taylor (9) Made some terrific saves and dealt with almost everything that Reading threw at him. Marshals his defence very well through a combination of sensible positioning and very loud swearing. This is the best game I’ve seen him have.
Lund (7) Defensively solid all night and didn’t put a foot wrong. Could maybe have got forward more.
Baker (6) Struggled a little for positioning early on, but got better as the game developed. For a sixteen year old though he looks a very promising prospect.
Knight (8) Performed very well, restricting Lita to one chance all night and dominating in the air; A good solid performance.
O’Halloran (7) Struggled in he first half with Readings tricky winger but seemed to get the measure of him late on. Perhaps he was rusty from his holiday on the south coast. Excellent goal and determined as always.
Bannan (8) Who needs to be tall? The ball is only 11 inches tall and it loves him. Another impressive game for Barry in which he always kept the ball moving, rarely gave it away and created a great deal of what was good about our performance.
Osbourne (6) Didn’t get on quite so well with the ball. Both he and Salifou dwelt on it a bit much during the game and he looked a little off the pace at times. Battled away until the end though and looks like he needed ninety minutes,
Salifou (7) Got caught out once or twice on the ball, but showed invention and craft through the middle. Didn’t bring his shooting boots.
Berger (6) Some nice touches, but Berger didn’t look particularly interested tonight and never really got going. He’s another that will benefit from having an hours football under his belt.
Routledge (5) A mare I’m afraid. Started out a little flat and made his way through to poor. On this performance he’s a long way from the first team yet.
Delfouneso (7) At times dazzling and for the first time at this level he had a senior centre back terrified. Bikey wasn’t sure how to deal with him when he had the ball and he dominated him in the first half. His finishing was wayward though and he wasn’t aggressive enough in his chasing of balls or defenders for my liking this evening. That said he could have scored a couple and showed flashes of real quality.
Subs:
Collins (6) His hustle and bustle down the middle gave us better shape, but he never really found an opportunity.
Albrighton – Not really on long enough for a mark but he did manage to whip in a couple of decent balls after replacing Bannan on 86 minutes.
Mer om reservlagsmatchen finns på länkarna:
http://www.villatalk.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3789
http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1249873,00.html
