YANN’S WINNER BRINGS OUT THE BOO-BIRDS
CARDIFF City boss Paul Trollope was left pulling his hair-out after his team were KO’d by Reading’s sucker punch.
Yann Kermorgant crashed home an 89th-minute winner to complete Reading’s smash-andgrab at the Cardiff City Stadium.
The striker thumped home Jordan Obita’s cross to claim Reading’s first win of the Championship since the opening weekend.
But that was only after Cardiff wasted a host of chances.
Jazz Richards and Anthony Pilkington were both denied by Ali Al-Habsi inside the opening 15 minutes.
Peter Whittingham and Kadeem Harris ensured a regular supply of chances but Lex Immers, Matthew Connolly and Sean Morrison should all have been far more clinical with headers.
Trollope said: “We are still searching for consistency through games. We thought we had this one in the palm of our hands at half-time and that we would go on to win,” he said.
“We controlled the game and coped well with their pattern to limit them to few chances. But you need to score goals in football and we should have been ahead.
“We had three very, very good chances from headers and didn’t take them, which came back to haunt us. To concede that late goal that felt like a real suckerpunch.”
Trollope, a key figure in Wales’ Euro 2016 heroics as part of the backroom staff, now has just one win from his first six games in charge at Cardiff and saw his side booed at the end of a frustrating performance.
He added: “I don’t feel pressure. The job is what it is and every manager knows the business.
“I understand the reaction. We’ve just lost at home and it’s normal to be hugely disappointed but for the majority of the game, the fans were right behind the group.”
Jaap Stam, his Reading counterpart, could have been under the same scrutiny, having failed to follow up their victory on the opening weekend of the Championship season.
They would have been satisfied with an away point but belief steadily grew as Cardiff failed to capitalise.
Ben Wilson made his Championship debut due to David Marshall’s absence ahead of a potential move to Hull, but opposite number Al-Habsi was far busier and Wilson almost gifted Reading a goal when spilled a high-ball.
Richards blocked Roy Beerens’ tame-effort on the line but Kermorgant struck soon after to thump home from substitute Obita’s cross.
Staam said: “I’m very proud of the players and how they reacted and the passion they put into this game. They are learning a different style of play but I told them if they keep believing, working hard and are patient then eventually we will start winning games. There was no reason to be doubtful.
“When you look at how we have played in recent weeks, we’ve worked hard on controlling possession in games but didn’t always get the chances. It was the same early on against Cardiff. We were up against a physically strong side who don’t give away much space to pass.
“But we have worked a lot on not conceding stupid goals from set-pieces. We kept our patience and picked it up in the second half. We controlled the game and created chances late on.”