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| << Season 2006-07 >> |
Reading's first ever season at the top level of English football exceeded all expectations as they narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup place. The tone for the season was set on the opening day, as Middlesbrough shot into a 2-0 lead. However goals from Kitson and Sidwell had the Royals level at half time, and although Dave Kitson was forced off with a serious injury, his replacement Leroy Lita popped up with the winner. This result proved that the squad that had run away with the Championship was able to compete at the higher level, particularly against some of the Premier League's lesser lights.
Against the leading teams there were creditable draws against Manchester United and Chelsea in the League and Manchester United in the FA Cup. In the Cup replay at the Madejski Stadium, United flew into a 3-0 lead after only five minutes, but a largely second string Reading team pulled the score back to 3-2 and only the width of the cross-bar stopped them taking the game into extra time. This strength in depth was reflected as the Reserves won the Premier Reserve League.
However the result of the season came on New Year's Day as an inspired performance by left-back Nicky Shorey, who was to become Reading's first England international in over one hundred years, helped the Royals thrash a pitifully out-of-sorts West Ham side 6-0. This sparked a six-game unbeaten run that effectively ensured safety. Although injuries took their toll, there was still time for an impressive 3-1 win at Bolton, before a 3-3 draw at Blackburn saw Reading narrowly miss out on European qualification.
| Premier League (8th) |
Middlesbrough H W 3-2 Kitson, Sidwell, Lita
Aston Villa A L 1-2 Doyle
Wigan Athletic A L 0-1
Manchester C H W 1-0 Ingimarsson
Sheffield Utd A W 2-1 Doyle, Seol
Manchester Utd H D 1-1 Doyle (pen)
West Ham Utd A W 1-0 Seol
Chelsea H L 0-1
Arsenal H L 0-4
Portsmouth A L 1-3 Doyle
Liverpool A L 0-2
Tottenham H H W 3-1 Shorey, Sidwell, Doyle
Charlton Ath H W 2-0 Seol, Doyle
Fulham A W 1-0 Doyle (pen)
Bolton Wand H W 1-0 Doyle
Newcastle Utd A L 2-3 Harper 2
Watford A D 0-0
Blackburn Rov H L 1-2 Harper
Everton H L 0-2
Chelsea A D 2-2 Lita, Essien (og)
Manchester Utd A L 2-3 Sonko, Lita
West Ham Utd H W 6-0 Gunnarsson, Hunt, Ferdinand (og), Doyle 2, Lita
Everton A D 1-1 Lescott (og)
Sheffield Utd H W 3-1 Long, d.l.Cruz, Hunt
Wigan Athletic H W 3-2 Ingimarsson, Long, Lita
Manchester C A W 2-0 Lita 2
Aston Villa H W 2-0 Sidwell 2
Middlesbrough A L 1-2 Oster
Arsenal A L 1-2 Fabregas (og)
Portsmouth H D 0-0
Tottenham H A L 0-1
Liverpool H L 1-2 Gunnarsson
Charlton Ath A D 0-0
Fulham H W 1-0 Hunt
Bolton Wand A W 3-1 Doyle 2 (1 pen), Hunt
Newcastle Utd H W 1-0 Kitson
Watford H L 0-2
Blackburn Rov A D 3-3 Seol, Doyle, Gunnarsson
| Premier League Table |
PL HW HD HL HF HA AW AD AL AF AA PTS
1. Manchester Utd 38 15 2 2 46 12 13 3 3 37 15 89
2. Chelsea 38 12 7 0 37 11 12 4 3 27 13 83
3. Liverpool 38 14 4 1 39 7 6 4 9 18 20 68
4. Arsenal 38 12 6 1 43 16 7 5 7 20 19 68
5. Tottenham H 38 12 3 4 34 22 5 6 8 23 32 60
6. Everton 38 11 4 4 33 17 4 9 6 19 19 58
7. Bolton Wand 38 9 5 5 26 20 7 3 9 21 32 56
8. READING 38 11 2 6 29 20 5 5 9 23 27 55
9. Portsmouth 38 11 5 3 28 15 3 7 9 17 27 54
10. Blackburn Rov 38 9 3 7 31 25 6 4 9 21 29 52
11. Aston Villa 38 7 8 4 20 14 4 9 6 23 27 50
12. Middlesbrough 38 10 3 6 31 24 2 7 10 13 25 46
13. Newcastle Utd 38 7 7 5 23 20 4 3 12 15 27 43
14. Manchester C 38 5 6 8 10 16 6 3 10 19 28 42
15. West Ham Utd 38 8 2 9 24 26 4 3 12 11 33 41
16. Fulham 38 7 7 5 18 18 1 8 10 20 42 39
17. Wigan Athletic 38 5 4 10 18 30 5 4 10 19 29 38
18. Sheffield Utd 38 7 6 6 24 21 3 2 14 8 34 38
19. Charlton Ath 38 7 5 7 19 20 1 5 13 15 40 34
20. Watford 38 3 9 7 19 25 2 4 13 10 34 28
| Position Graph |
| FA Cup |
R3 BurnleyC H W 3-2 Lita, Long, Sodje R4 Birmingham CC A W 3-2 Kitson, Lita 2 R5 Manchester UtdP A D 1-1 Gunnarsson R5(R) Manchester UtdP H L 2-3 Kitson, Lita
| League Cup |
R2 Darlington2 H D 3-3 * Lita 2, Máté
R3 LiverpoolP A L 3-4 Bikey, Lita, Long
* after extra time, won 4-2 on penalties
| Top Scorers |
LG FA LC MC ALL PEN HAT RATE
1. Leroy Lita 7 4 3 0 14 0 0 0.368
2. Kevin Doyle 13 0 0 0 13 3 0 0.382
3. Stephen Hunt 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0.105
Seol Ki-Hyeon 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0.129
Steve Sidwell 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0.108
6. Bryn Gunnarsson 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 0.148
7. Dave Kitson 2 2 0 0 4 0 0 0.235
8. Shane Long 2 1 1 0 4 0 0 0.167
9. James Harper 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0.075
10. Ívar Ingimarsson 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0.048
11. Ulises d.l.Cruz 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.067
John Oster 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.032
Nicky Shorey 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.026
Ibrahima Sonko 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.043
15. Sam Sodje 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.143
16. André Bikey 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.048
Péter Máté 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1.000
18. Own goals 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0.091
Totals 52 9 6 0 67 3 0 1.523
| Most Appearances |
LG FA LC MC ALL SUM
1. Ívar Ingimarsson 38 3 1 0 42 42
2. James Harper 36+2 1 0+1 0 37+3 40
3. Nicky Shorey 37 2 0 0 39 39
4. Marcus Hahnemann 38 0 0 0 38 38
5. Stephen Hunt 28+7 0+1 2 0 30+8 38
6. Leroy Lita 22+11 2+1 2 0 26+12 38
7. Steve Sidwell 35 2 0 0 37 37
8. Kevin Doyle 28+4 1 0+1 0 29+5 34
9. Seol Ki-Hyeon 22+5 4 0 0 26+5 31
10. John Oster 6+19 4 2 0 12+19 31
11. Glen Little 18+6 0+2 2 0 20+8 28
12. Bryn Gunnarsson 10+13 2 2 0 14+13 27
13. Graeme Murty 23 1 0 0 24 24
14. Shane Long 9+12 1 2 0 12+12 24
15. Ibrahima Sonko 23 0 0 0 23 23
16. André Bikey 7+8 4 2 0 13+8 21
17. Dave Kitson 9+4 3+1 0 0 12+5 17
18. Ulises d.l.Cruz 9 4 2 0 15 15
19. Bobby Convey 8+1 3 0 0 11+1 12
20. Michael Duberry 8 0 0 0 8 8
21. Sam Sodje 2+1 2+1 0+1 0 4+3 7
22. Adam Federici 0+2 4 0 0 4+2 6
23. Greg Halford 2+1 0 0 0 2+1 3
24. John Halls 0 0 2 0 2 2
Graham Stack 0 0 2 0 2 2
26. Scott Golbourne 0 1 0 0 1 1
27. Péter Máté 0 0 1 0 1 1
28. Simon Cox 0 0+1 0 0 0+1 1
Curtis Osano 0 0+1 0 0 0+1 1
Alex Pearce 0 0+1 0 0 0+1 1
Totals 38 4 2 0 44 44