BOSS PAUNOVIC CHUFFED BY HIS FLYING ROYALS
Ayew brace boosts City promotion dash.. but Cooper could lose hitman to Ghana Max has been losing the name game but he’s sure winning the fame game
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VELJKO PAUNOVIC insists his Reading team are playing better now than the side that began the season like a train.
The Serb (above, left) has worked a minor miracle by transforming a side regularly staving off relegation into genuine promotion contenders.
Paunovic watched this victory from the touchline with his left arm in a sling – having torn ligaments around his collarbone falling awkwardly when joining in with training.
And his passion and pain threshold – refusing drugs to soothe the discomfort – are clearly inspiring the players who plunged stricken 10-man Wednesday into deep trouble with this win.
Reading took 22 points from 24 at the start of the campaign and have survived a major blip to remain in the hunt for promotion.
Paunovic, after seeing his team hit the 60-point mark, said: “There is still room for improvement.
“There has already been a huge improvement since that initial eight-game run.
“We are a better team now than then, and have that progress and consistency to reach different milestones.
“We’ll keep looking to build our momentum.”
The turning point came on 29 minutes when Julian Borner conceded a penalty and was sent off for hauling down George Puscas. With top scorer Lucas Joao having missed three spot-kicks this season, Michael Olise took over duties and scored.
Joao, though, scored his 21st goal of the season after the interval and Andy Yiadom (above, celebrating) added a late third.
Royals defender Liam Moore hailed squad members such as Tom Holmes, Tom McIntyre and Alfa Semedo, who have come in and kept the bandwagon rolling.
Moore said: “The defence especially has gone through changes, and players have stepped up.
“The boys that weren’t in the team so much have trained really hard and come in seamlessly.”
Newlyinstalled Wednesday manager Darren Moore knows his relegationhaunted team can ill afford such acts of self-harm.
This was a seventh red card of the season, and incredibly a fourth league game in a row against Reading they have ended up a man down.
Moore said: “All the odds are stacked against us, but we’re still in there with a fighting chance.
“It’s essential we stick together, and we have to get that belief back.”
READING: Cabral 6, Yiadom 8 (Esteves 90), Holmes 6, Moore 6, McIntyre 7, Richards 7, Olise 8 (Tetek 82), Laurent 7 (Azeez 90), Semedo 6, Joao 7 (Aluko 67, 6), Puscas 7 (Baldock 82)
SHEFF WED: Wildsmith 6, Urhoghide 6, Lees 6, Borner 4, Palmer 6, Harris 6 (Marriott 70, 6), Hutchinson 6, Shaw 6, Windass 6 (Pelupessy 85), Bannan 6 (Penney 32, 6), Paterson 6 (Rhodes 70, 6)
ANDRE AYEW could miss three matches vital to Swansea’s promotion push – if they allow the inspirational striker to go away on international duty with Ghana.
Ayew (right) scored twice to take his Championship goal tally for the season to 13.
But Swans manager Steve Cooper fears the Ghana captain could be stuck in quarantine for 10 days, if his club allow Ayew to play in South Africa, where a new Covid-19 strain emerged.
Ayew and a number of Premier League stars, including his brother Jordan, are due to play an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Johannesburg on March 25.
Ghana then have another match, at home to the island nation of Sao Tome and
Principe, meaning Ayew could be stuck in a hotel room when he returns to the UK, and miss games against Birmingham, Preston and Millwall.
Cooper saw Ayew win the game with his second controversial injury-time penalty in four days and admitted he is looking for FIFA to step in.
“We haven’t even had a call-up for Andre yet to say that he’s going,” said Cooper. “But I would imagine we would, with him being the captain of Ghana.
“There have been games moved in the Champions League because of Covid restrictions. I haven’t given it much thought, but I don’t think this situation is just going to be about Andre and Swansea.
“There will be a whole host of players that represent countries outside Europe. With the travel restrictions and all that, other clubs are going to be in a similar boat.
“I would imagine football will take a bit of a lead on it and we can make a decision from there.”
Ayew volleyed the Swans into a first-half lead, and then coolly slotted home a 97thminute penalty, after referee Gavin Ward changed his mind over awarding the kick (Boro keeper Marcus Bettinelli disputes the decision, below left).
That – and Ward’s decision to wipe off a goal by Marc
Bola for the softest of fouls – sent Boro boss Neil Warnock into a raging touchline meltdown (below, centre and right).
Warnock thought Boro had won a deserved point with their own injury-time goal by Sam Morsy.
The 72-year-old then claimed Cooper’s father, Keith – a former Premier
League official – was somehow pulling favours on behalf of his son. Warnock insisted the accusation was just a joke, but Cooper wasn’t laughing. The FA are also not renowned for seeing the funny side if they reckon a manager has questioned the integrity of their officials – and Warnock doesn’t need directions to their hearings. “I’m not getting involved in tittle-tattle,” said Cooper. “We are a classy club with strong values, and don’t want to be the opposite of that.” SWANSEA: Woodman 7, Naughton 6, Cabango 7, Guehi 7, Roberts 7, Grimes 7, Fulton 6, Manning 6 (Bidwell 73, 6), Smith 6 (Lowe 67, 6), Hourihane 6, Ayew 8
BORO: Bettinelli 6, McNair 7, Hall 6, Fry 6, Morsy 7, Dijksteel 6 (Spence 16, 6 (Mendez-Laing 78, 5)), Howson 6, Saville 7, Bola 7 (Johnson 78, 6), Watmore 5 (Akpom 46, 6), Bolasie 6 (Kebano 66, 6)
MAX AARONS has been making quite a name for himself in his three seasons at Norwich.
Trouble is, it’s the wrong one.
The right-back is on course for his second Championship winners’ medal after Teemu Pukki’s brace and a Todd Cantwell strike (right) downed the Hatters to maintain Norwich’s 10-point lead at the top.
England Under-21 regular
Aarons (above) has been linked with a host of big clubs, with Everton seeing him as the successor to Seamus Coleman.
Barcelona and Roma have already been told where to go by the Canaries, and Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Bayern Munich have him on their radar. But the big noise on the pitch revealed he kept quiet about his name being mispronounced off it because he didn’t want to make a fuss. It’s ‘Air-ons’ not ‘Arr-ons.’
“When I first came into the team I didn’t want to say anything,” he said. “But my cousin Rolando, who is at Huddersfield, wanted it to be said properly and it wasn’t until he brought it up that I put it forward as well. I even said to mum and dad a few years ago that I’d just leave it.”
Aarons was more forthright on the prospect of switching international allegiance to Jamaica.
He and his cousin qualify through his dad but, though Rolando fancies it, Max is staying with the Three Lions.
“I am fully focused on England Under-21s,” he said. “We have a big European
Championship coming up. It has been quite odd for me because I have had a few family members messaging me from Jamaica.”
The Canaries are going up but it would be no surprise if Aarons left in the summer, and the same goes for playmaker Emi Buendia too.
Hatters boss Nathan Jones hailed Norwich as the Manchester City of the Championship but they are a selling club and put financial security before the chase for glory.
Aarons insisted he didn’t mind sporting director Stuart Webber turning down a £20million offer from Roma in January, though.
“We decided it wasn’t the best fit at that time and that all focus was on getting the job done here,” he said. “I didn’t want to let it become a distraction, and neither did the club.”
Luton had an unwanted distraction the day before the game when they were told tomorrow’s match with Rotherham was because of Covid in Millers camp.
Manager Jones had already decided to rest regulars in Norfolk to be fresh for that one but it was too late to change tack and they ended up getting out-played at Carrow Road, although if James Collins had scored instead of hitting a post early on it might have been different.
Defender Matty Pearson said: “It gives us a bit of a rest now to get ourselves right for next Saturday.
“We just need to get over the 50-point mark and hopefully we’ll do that soon.” NORWICH: Krul 7, Aarons 7, Hanley 7, Gibson 7, Giannoulis 6, Skipp 6, McLean 8 (Idah 86), Buendia 6 (Dowell 82), Rupp 7 (Sorensen 78, 5), Cantwell 8 (Hernandez 78, 5), Pukki 8 (Hugill 82)
LUTON: Sluga 8, Cranie 6, Pearson 7, Naismith 7, Potts 6, Ince 6 (Cornick 60, 6), Tunnicliffe 6, Dewsbury-Hall 6 (Bree 78, 6), Moncur 6 (Mpanzu 60, 6), Berry 6 (Clark 46, 6), Collins 6 (Adebayo 60, 6)
MOTM off the
TODD CANTWELL (NORWICH)