very pleased to see us move the ball much quicker and this produced a much improved performance against a good derby side. could easily have got a third...but glad last minute equaliser was avoided as at millwall.got to watch giving away free kicks in dangerous areas.. thought ref had a bad game some awful decisions one foul on barton could have been a red but the ref gave the derby player nothing.. excellent atmosphere and lr crowd really got behind the rss second half... shame about ali really hope its not as bad as feared... he had a good game up to then and beautifull delivered free kick for the second.. well pleased with phillips his best performance to date and unlucky to hit the bar after excellent work. great afternoon

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A very bright attacking start with Hoilett and Phillips going both inside and outside the fullbacks and only a mixture of missed chances, good goalkeeping and bad luck prevented us from taking an early lead. After about 25 minutes of total domination we allowed Reading to muscle their way back into the game and they created a few chances. We rallied in the final minutes of the first half but once again were denied taking a lead.
Having been forced into two substitutions by half time, we were limited in options for the second half. I thought we continued to look the better and more dangerous team but Reading were physically very strong. After about an hour Reading scored out of nothing. McCleary found a bit of room having wrong footed Barton and let fly with a great long range strike, which was perfectly placed to beat a diving Green and go in off the post.

We then started to chase the game and within a few minutes Harry took the gamble of replacing O'Neil with AJ for our final substitution.
AJ looked very lively and, despite being booed by the Reading rabble on every touch, he gave us a lot of movement against a tiring defence. Of course the injury curse struck again and yet another hamstring problem for Hoilett left him a virtual passenger for the rest of the game.

With about 10 minutes left Austin was fouled by Gorkss in the 'D' and Barton curled the resulting free kick through a wall being disrupted by Kranjcar and EA and it was too strong for the hand of the diving McCarthy.

So in the end a point was rescued and, with Burnley being held and Leicester losing at home, it was a good day for the Rrrr's.

If we can get a better final ball and improved finishing then someone could get a hiding.

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Hull were not the pushover that the score suggests. Saints worked hard and played some exceptional football at times for this result.

All the pre-match talk of manager of the month hoodoos was dispelled as a load of bullocks. Hard graft and wonderful football from the whole team but especially Clyne, Ward-Prowse, J Rod, Lambert and the outstanding Lallana won the day and Hull had no answer.

The only sour note was the, help-yourself, goal given away by Wanyama in a momentary lapse of concentration, but Boruc perhaps should not have put him in that position in the first place.

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Reading from the first minute showed there plan, which was to press us at the back and shut down our passing game. However unlike Burnley we had a plan B, quick balls, over the top and attack them with pace, this forced them back, we had lots of possession in there half, and resulted us in dominating the first 25 minutes were to be honest we should have been 2 or 3 up. Reading then had their best spell of the game for 10 min, then we took control again.

The second half was more 50 /50 with us edging it, but with injuries to Jenus and more importantly Dunne open the space up for there goal, good strike from 25 yards but unlike Hoilet effort which hit the bar and came out, theirs creeped in of the right hand post. Som people are quick to point out that Green feet are not the best and feel he should have saved it, but if you look at it agan it was a strong shot, that bounced just before him and IMO not to blame. The injuries, lack of cover for the space the player drifted into and more importantly the linesman who gave the wrong throw in were.
We never let our heads drop, we kept pluggin away and reward soon arrived after Austin invited the challenge on the edge of the area and then toe poke the ball away for the foul. Up stepped Barton who curled the ball around / through the wall into the corner, no more than we deserved. In fact IMO AJ should have won this game that we deserved to win. The players, management and coaches all got this game right, and the only injustice was Reading getting appoint.

Good performance

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This mistake by Artur has been coming for a while, he has won us a few but this was one that changed the game for us.

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Artur has a habit of being too cool sometimes, but this was a dumb mistake that changed the course of this game.No doubt he has won us some but this was one of the most uncalled for error's I manageable.

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Cracking and well deserved win surprised at the team selection and subs used but played well well in possession and territory still need to be better in the final 3 rd atleast chico didnt fall over today lol

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We should be beating these sort of team 3 or 4 nil . But happy that we have won. Austins goal was stunning and well desreved-he puts in a lot of work,especially off the ball. Barton was his self and the defense was strong but simpson had a few nervous minutes. I know we need to keep possesion but sometimes we dont taqke advantage of situations in which to attack and create opportunities. Great to have a good win at last

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I agree. We should be winning these games by 2 or 3 easily. I thought we were solid from the back but as usual, come their 18 yd box we really didn't threaten too much. The problem of playing with just one striker??

Thought Henry was pretty good once he came on. In fact cant think of a weak performance from anyone .

Seems the season will continue to be games of very few goals scored by us and even less against us. Hardly 'electric' but actually quite effective.

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it's a results business these days we're told and it seems getting the result is paramount. Well, of course it is but a 1 goal advantage is too nevy. Look at the Millwall game, thier 93rd minute goal wouldn't have mattered had we been 3-1 up. Same at Reading and they got a 95th minute corner which could have punished us.

1 goal leads are too risky. especially as we have the ability to get the 2nd. It's not as though we're clinging onto a 1-0 lead at Chelsea.

We seemed to have more chances in injury time than in the whole of the 2nd half. Johnson made a difference. When Austin is outside the penalty area by the byline working hard, at least we had someone in the box to collect. When Austin is the lone striker, there just doesn't seem to be any support into the penalty area.

That all said, if we get promoted no one will care but it makes for a nervous season.

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