City went into the game knowing exactly what was waiting for them should they win. I'm not fond of this for two reasons, and as this is my blog and I can do what I want with it, I'm going to complain about them before I get onto the match report. Firstly, the winner would get a semi-final place at Wembley. I know that The FA have to pay the £900 million it cost to build the stadium somehow, but it's ridiculous that the nearest of the four teams playing there (Stoke) are 154 miles away. It also devalues the final somewhat, as the teams will have already played at the stadium a few weeks before. We also knew that it would be United that the winners would play, as the draw was done half an hour before we kick-ed off. Even without taking into account the potential opponents (and it was the worst possible draw for us), what is the point of having the draw after only three of the four games have been played? All four games were played over two consecutive days, so how difficult would it be to wait an extra couple of hours? I'm not wanting a return to the days when the draw was on a Monday lunchtime, mainly as I'll be at work then so can't watch it, but our game finished at half six, so it's not like 'the children' would have to stay up really late to watch it.
Rant over, and onto the game. The best news of the day, and possibly the whole week, was that Nigel de Jong had made his return from an ankle injury, and took the holding midfield role alongside Viera. Tevez started up front, and Mario had recovered enough from his alleged allergic reaction to take a place on the bench.
City started the way they played on Thursday against Kiev, without any real cutting edge, although at least the defence looked much more secure. After about twenty minutes, Silva started to pull the strings, and City started to threaten Reading's goal. Unfortunately, the times when the shots were on target, thy were straight at the Reading 'keeper. In fairness to McCarthy, he was in the right place when needed, and a couple of saves needed sharp reactions.
The second half started the same way as the first, with City in control and creating plenty of chances, but none of them were clear cut. Things were starting to get tense, as the last thing we needed was a replay. Fortunately, Richards was on hand with quarter of an hour to go to head in Silva's corner. The corner was played into exactly the right position to meet Micah's run, but he still needed all his strength to put a bullet header into the corner of net.
Following the goal, City took their foot off the gas, but were still comfortable, with Reading only managing a single shot on target, which was comfortable for Hart. They were reduced to lumping the ball towards the box, which Kompany and Lescott comfortably dealt with, and the game finished one-nil.
Nige was given the man-of-the-match award in the stadium, and it's difficult to argue against him. He showed how much we missed him in the month he's been injured, and the defence looked a lot more secure with him in front. The only other contenders were Kompany, who was composed at the back, and Silva, who was our main attacking threat. McCarthy may have a shout from a neutral point of view, but I don't have that, so couldn't say.
So, we're five weeks away from the semi-final at Wembley Stadium, and against that lot just outside the city, here's a stat to end with: the only time we've ever played them in the FA Cup semi-final, we won three-nil. We then went to lose the final against Bolton, who are in the other semi. Arse.
No comments:
Post a Comment