The Tanner Report: Reading 1 Fulham 0
So the Fulham dismal play off record continues with no wins in 6 matches, we have never scored more than one goal in any game and bowed out for the third time before the final. In a season when we failed to score 9 of our 13 penalties how ironic that we should lose to one, and a contentious one at that, the Reading forward Kermorgant appeared to handle the ball before Kalas did. This said Reading stuck tenaciously to their game plan of frustrating Fulham who for all our possession and pretty passing inter play we really did not create that many chances and the final ball was often wayward. How often have we seen a pragmatic Mourinho side beat a beautiful one? I felt that we would get one golden chance to equalise but when it arose MacDonald’s shot from close in was parried by Reading keeper Al Habsi, had it gone low to his left or right then it surely would have been a goal. The bitterness of losing out should not disguise the success and enjoyment of the season. We played the best football in the division, often given the accolade of the best team the opposition had faced by their fans, reversed the decline of six seasons and the momentum that took us to the play offs was a heady brew for us fans.
I made my own contribution to the Great Rust Debate by watching it on telly as opposed to being at the Madjeski stadium. With car travel in various forms failing to materialise and a tricky and unreliable train journey cross country, I wimped out for telly in my front room. This did have one undesirable consequence. Normally on match day I would meet fellow supporting friends at a restaurant local to the ground which fills in the time. At 6.00 pm nearly 2 hours before kick off I did not know what to do. I made various attempts to do the Telegraph crossword , started to read the Fulham message boards where contributors spoke of their excitement in going and eventually after supper sat myself in front of the telly. I took the Fulham website radio commentary of Jim McGullion for its partisanship but this was out of sync with the Sky presentation.
Various supporters were texting me throughout the game. I thought Reading’s game management was better, that Scott Malone with his vigour and surging runs should not be subbed when the team was wilting through fatigue but all 4 forward – Ayite, Aluko, Kebano and Martin – failed to make an impact. Tim Ream was again a revelation at the back and Bettinelli once again showed with this display that he is a better keeper than Button.
Will this season be the platform for an automatic promotion or will we lose Head Coach Slavisa Jokatonic, Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon and drift back into obscurity once again?
