THREE goals saw Reading brush aside West Brom and head into the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
Brian McDermott’s excellent record in the competition continued as the Royals came back from 1-0 down to beat the Premiership squad at the Madejski Stadium.
After an insipid first half, which saw the Royals very much in command everywhere on the pitch but in front of the goal, it was the second that saw the battle formally commence.
West Brom’s Fletcher opened the scoring with his 54th minute goal, one that had been threatened ever since the second half got underway: the Baggies had come out of the tunnel raring to go, making the Royals look like they were napping.
However, their lead was short lived as Paul McShane drew the sides level with an amazing header that gave the keeper no chance to save it.
Royals then pressed their advantage and kept the pressure up, Hector scoring – again from a header – in the 72nd minute. His goal came off a free kick and gave the home fans something to cheer about.
Although the Royals were in the lead, West Brom were determined to claw their way back and earn, at least, a replay. But the home side soaked up the pressure, ultimately preventing their opposition from getting in.
There were several scares and goalmouth scrambles, one needlessly caused by Hector fouling West Brom’s Rondon just outside the Royals’ goalmouth, but Al Hasbi managed to punch away the resulting ball.
With plenty of end-to-end action, it was no surprise that the Royals kept on pushing for a third goal to finish the game. Throughout the game, they kept creating clear chances but there was too much hesitancy rather than killer instinct. The net result is that moments would be created then lost as West Brom caught up. Substitute John had a golden opportunity to score but fluffed his lines and the Baggies cleared it away.
However, last-minute substitute Piazon was the one to finish the game. His stoppage time shot was enough to put the game beyond West Brom’s reach and see the Royals continue their march to Wembley.
Corrected: We incorrectly reported that Vydra had scored the third goal. It was, in fact, Piazon. Apologies for our error.
