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Mens 1 v Southgate (1-1)  5th Oct 2014

Mens 1 v Southgate (1-1) 5th Oct 2014

Liz Spencer8 Oct 2014 - 20:53
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Captain Chris Newman

Written by Dave Wright - Reading Post

Several Blues players were nursing knocks after a match that saw both teams shown a red card.
John Jackson (hip), Timmy Lewis (hand), Jonty Clarke (face) and Dan Shingles (hand) all needed treatment during a tough encounter at Sonning Lane on Sunday.
Ireland captain Jackson put his body behind the ball to stop a
goal-bound shot from a corner to concede a penalty stroke, enabling Rick Gay give the visitors an eight-minute lead.
The ball was in the net again on 32 minutes, but it came off Reading’s Tim Lewis’s stick and ‘own goals’ no longer count in this league.
On the stroke of half-time Southgate’s Jonty Robinson was given a five-minute suspension.
There was also a yellow card for Gay before Blues equalised through Rick Mantell from a 50th-minute penalty corner.
A second yellow brought a red card for Gay on the hour mark, and shortly afterwards a similar punishment was handed out to Reading’s Jon Codling.
Both were technical reds and so neither player faces any further punishment.
In the closing stages, there were near misses at both ends, with keeper Tommy Alexander producing a fine save from a penalty corner while Clarke and Ben Boon were not far away from winning the game.
After the game, coach Andy Watts had this to say: "It was a frustrating first half which led to a lot of our problems.
"We did not start with enough intensity and made too many basic errors which allowed them to get into the game and that made for a really phonetic and frantic second half
"We did create enough chances to win the game despite not being at our best.
"So actually a point when we performed at the level wasn't such a bad thing, but I certainly think we are capable of playing a lot better than what we saw today."
Reading are away to Wimbledon on Saturday (6pm).

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