We lost but what did you expect...

[Northants Nomad]

...it was Reading away - when do we ever get anything there?

OK, my view and opinion and others may agree or disagree, that's the joy of football.

Reading were the better team. After 20 minutes (ish) at 1-nil down, I truly feared a battering. Dickov was brave, made the substitution and changed the shape - that was absolutely the right move. Nothing wrong with Furman and should not be a reflection on him, but a midfielder had to go to make way for a second striker and Wellens & Keegan were the right ones to stay on from the mid-three.

For the next 15-20 minutes, it was a much better show and our equaliser was deserved. Reading's second was poor from a defensive viewpoint and it was agonising to see it trickle over the line.

Unlucky to go in 2-1 down.

Second half started brightly and we had chances. The turning point was the loss of Rob Jones. That took us down to 10 men with a whole in the centre of our defence - no chance against a team with the quality of Reading. Hence, 2 goals against as we, to our credit, tried to get an equaliser. Yes, the second of those 2 was a pass across the defence to the gap where Jones would have stood, but it was all over by then.

Some random views - are Reading a brilliant outfit who look like they have just come from the Prem and will romp this league...erm...NO!

My MOTM - Theo and Khumalo

Did Bennett wimp out of any tackle that might have led to an injury - yes! And if only his talent was as high as he thinks it is, he'd be aw-esome, instead, he's aw-ful.

I also want to acknowledge the Reading fans behind the goal during Jones injury who seemed to applaud him once he was up again. That's what it looked like from the other end of the field and if that's the case, then fair play.

In summary, 4-1 was the scoreline and it was harsh - 2-1 would have been fair. No complaints that Reading won, they were better than us. We need some defenders even more-so now.

[Jenny]

Glad someone else shares my views on Bennett. We may as well have been down to 9.

[Northants Nomad]

Jenny - I was being kind to him. I think he was to blame for their 3rd (though I may be wrong) but time after time he over-ran it, got knocked off it, avoided going for balls, tried to dribble beyond his ability.

Honestly, I support every player that pulls on a Donny shirt and truly want them to succeed, but I have never been wowed by Bennett, not once. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than eating humble pie as he picks up his 'player of the year' award in May, but I think there is more chance of me riding a unicorn to escape the dinosaurs as they sweep across the mountains of Holland.

[Chris Black come back]

Quinn again near faultless. Think he only got beaten once in entire game.

[DRFCSouth]

Was sat behind the net where Jones was injured as my Mrs is a Reading fan. Genuinely looked like a broken bone somewhere in the lower arm. The Reading fans did applaud him and were good as they realised it looked bad from the beginning. 4-1 was unfair although it always looked like a Reading win. Robinson looked dangerous and should start every game imo.

[acacia94]

Reading looked devastating in that first 20mins. Premiership quality against a lower Championship team. But we came back into it and we had some decent chances. We put in a decent performance today against a side that will be knocking on the perm. We've got some real steel in that side and I thought Richie Wellens grabbed the thing by the balls and just said – 'we're not having this – we're not gonna get tonked today'.
2-1 was fair and when you consider we lost the captain in what looked like a bad one and then conceded 2 more goals with 10 men it really wasn't the drubbing it looks like on paper – not by a long shot.
Agree on Bennett – could have been down to 9 men really. He really doesnt have the head to be a pro footballer at this level. Nice touch on the applause Rob got from reading after he finally walked off to hospital. You don't see that very often.

[bluewiggy123]

agree with everything on here tonight. we could have been 4 down by 3.15 pm. great saves from ross again. would liked to have seen kb out on loan to scunny and ds given a chance on the bench tho when mdv and hf are fit i dont think we will see much of kb

[1879Rovers]

I agree, 4-1 was very harsh on Rovers. After taking a pummelling for 20-minutes I thought Rovers controlled the game. Their second goal was totally against the run of play and it was all over when Jones went off.

[Alickismyhero]

I totally agree with the comments made by the OP and Jenny.

Young Dickies first sub of Furman with the change of formation was superb it changed things considerably but to put Bennett on for Copps was so wrong and I just can't get my head around it!!!

Lets not forget we were still in that game at 2-1 until Jonesie went off, end of.    2-1  :  4-1 makes no difference to me but to have Bennett on reduced us to 9 effective players and Young Dickie carries the can for that bad decision. I can't wait for his explanation.

[ponte_ricky]

Weird thing about the score today... I played this fixture this morning on fifa and lost 4-1 

[acacia94]

If you weren't there today – it really was OK. Have to write these games off and make sure we get points from the sides also scrapping. Agree on Pauls weird Copps decision?? Copps didnt seem injured or flagging and he went off in good spirits. He's been fantastic this season and his game has kicked on again under Mr Dickov. Changing him for Bennett who would not turn a game against a bunch of tough pro's like Reading.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I Listened to the game,and it seemed the difference between the two sides ,was we did a lot of huffing and puffing,but didn't have the finish when it mattered,just before they got the second,they were under pressure,but they got one chance and put it away,and as always when Rob Jones goes off we can't cope at the back,plus you can't play a sustained period with ten men against one of the best sides in the division,it's just one of those games you get where unless the other team are badly off form you are not going to get anything,though they didn't sound to be three goals better than us,that's now four clean sheets in eleven league games,which isn't too bad,but we maybe need to tighten up a little more,the goals we have conceded have mostly been against the better sides,clean sheets against Leicester(one of the top teams),Blackburn(mid table team for me),Sheff wed(relegation team),Huddersfield(around mid table).

I Think Macheda gives us that bit more movement up there,and we missed that today,but we still wouldn't have beat them today with him,we either need him back when he's fit or another pacy striker with a finish,because how we like to play relies on a bit of pace up there,Chris Brown up there with pace either side of him,i'll be interested when Harry Forrester is fit whether we can push him up into one of those roles,and De Val could give us a bit more quality in there with Wellens,away from home those two quality and with De Val a bit of bite in the tackle,and Keegan getting them plenty of ball,how is McCullough playing in the reserves,could one of the centre-halfs make way for him,we seem to have plenty of providers just not the finishers looking over the season so far,we need a striker in on loan,Billy Paynter just doesn't fit how Dickov wants to play.

[since-1969]

...

Did Bennett wimp out of any tackle that might have led to an injury - yes! And if only his talent was as high as he thinks it is, he'd be aw-esome, instead, he's aw-ful. ]

I was hoping being a former striker himself that PD would have a special role for Bennett in the side but it is just not working out in this Division for him, wether it's just bad timing having to build a side in his first year as manager with Rovers or plain Bennett's fault I just don't know , but I think he would be better loaned out before any confidence he still has disappears altogether.

[RedJ]

...

Did Bennett wimp out of any tackle that might have led to an injury - yes! And if only his talent was as high as he thinks it is, he'd be aw-esome, instead, he's aw-ful. ]

I was hoping being a former striker himself that PD would have a special role for Bennett in the side but it is just not working out in this Division for him, wether it's just bad timing having to build a side in his first year as manager with Rovers or plain Bennett's fault I just don't know , but I think he would be better loaned out before any confidence he still has disappears altogether.

Bennett couldn't cut it in the division below. He had about 5 games last year where he actually contributed.

[woodyrovers]

Really good analysis of the game from all here. Even though we had lost 4-1 I came away from the game reasonable upbeat. The early substitution from the manager was really impressive. It was quickly obvious the balance was right and he took immediate action. Furthermore it worked really quickly. I could not quite see how other than it looked like suddenly Bridges stopped coming forward as much, which was key because in the first 20 minutes he seemed to be constantly available for the ball.
Duffy is not mentioned above. Again I thought he had a good game especially when he starts to roam across the pitch. Khumalo was immense especially with Pogrebnyak. Jones before his injury got in some telling interceptions although there were also a few missed kicks etc.
I am not as convinced about Quinn as a championship standard full back. He seemed to me to be struggling at times to know where he should be especially when they were attacking in the first 20 minutes.
Finally lets not forget Turnball. He is an outstanding keeper and we are lick to have him.

[Sammy Chung was King]

It was one of those games,where if it can go wrong it did,we were playing catch up all game,i agree brave to make the sub so early,was the right decision,i worry about our dependence on Jones,when he's not there we crumble,it's a shame we can't get McCullough a few games in the first team,so if anything does happen we are confident he can do the job.

Turnbull for me is typical of the modern goalkeeper,not great on crosses,but a great shot stopper,not a problem with our defence really though,what i do like is he's quick off his line to deal with problems before they develop,i've said it before worse keepers than him have been in the England squad,i bet he's loving playing every week,for me top three in the best keepers in this league.