Spot of bother as Joao misses late penalty in draw
LUCAS Joao missed a late penalty for Reading as they drew 0-0 with Preston North End at Deepdale yesterday.
It meant the Royals failed to draw level with second-placed Swansea City in the Championship.
“With Lucas, when he scores and when he misses we give him support,” said Reading manager Veljko Paunovic.
“We gave him support in the changing room. It happens in football but it is also true that maybe his mood contributed to the penalty miss.
“Very early in the game he was disappointed because of the way that things were developing on the field.”
Blackburn Rovers claimed a controversial 1-0 away win against Middlesbrough yesterday to move up to ninth in the Championship.
The game’s major talking point came in the 14th minute when Boro were denied a penalty and a possible Rovers red card after Jarrad Branthwaite sliced the face of Dael Fry with a very high foot which forced the defender off with a nasty-looking injury.
Fry’s replacement Nathan Wood hit the post from close range on the hour mark after Thomas Kaminski had palmed away Jonny Howson’s header from a corner.
The deadlock was finally broken against the run of play when Joe Rothwell side-footed home unmarked from 12 yards after an excellent passing move between Harvey Elliott and Adam Armstrong.
On Saturday, Colin Kazim-richards’ goal earned Wayne Rooney’s Derby County a second successive win with a 1-0 victory at QPR to move five points clear of the Championship bottom three.
Kazim-richards tapped home following a counter-attack 11 minutes into the second half as Rooney made it two wins from three games since being appointed as the Rams permanent boss.
The goal was part of an eventful afternoon for veteran striker Kazimrichards, who missed an early sitter and after scoring was then fortunate not to concede a penalty for what seemed a clear handball.
He should have put Derby ahead in the first half but was guilty of an awful miss from in front of goal.
Nathan Byrne drifted away from
Niko Hamalainen on the right and drew Rangers captain Geoff Cameron towards him before teeing up Kazim-richards. The 34-year-old had only goalkeeper Seny Dieng to beat but inexplicably failed to make proper contact with the ball.
Rangers’ two best chances of the first period both fell to Charlie Austin, making his first appearance at Loftus Road since returning for a second spell at the club.
Austin headed Todd Kane’s rightwing cross wide of the target and was later denied by Rams keeper Kelle Roos.
It proved to be a crucial save, with QPR failing to score when they were on top and then punished by a swift Derby break early in the second half.
Graeme Shinnie charged forward and laid the ball off to Kamil Jozwiak, whose shot was parried by Dieng straight to Kazim-richards, who made no mistake this time.