DAILY MIRROR 26.08.2019
(^14) mirror.co.uk/sport/football
DM1ST
NATHAN
GROANS
HUDDERSFIELD 0
READING 2
Ejaria 71, Morrison 84
BY NATHAN HEMMINGHAM
JOSE GOMES hopes competition
for places can fire Reading up the
Championship table.
The Royals manager watched
his side beat Huddersfield 2-0 to
end a great week for the club,
which saw them pick up seven
points from three games.
The fact record-signing George
Puscas was rested, with strikers
Lucas Joao and Lucas Boye given
the nod instead, highlights the
attacking options the Portuguese
now has available to him.
“George was tired because he
was playing in Italy and is not
used to this type of schedule,”
said Gomes (above).
“It’s tough for players who are
not used to playing so many
games in a short space. But this is
a good sign for me because
Puscas was on the bench and, on
the pitch, there were two very
good strikers.
“They had played well against
the Huddersfield defence and
tired them, which allowed George
to come on and find spaces.
“My players are showing a lot
of positive signs. New players
arrived late in the window, but
they have been welcomed very
well by those we already have.”
Reading went ahead on 71
minutes. Ovie Ejaria fired the
Royals in front from inside the
area after exchanging passes with
John Swift. Michael Morrison
rubbed more salt into the Terriers’
wounds when he headed in Swift’s
corner six minutes from time.
Struggling Town’s on-loan
keeper Kamil Grabara said: “The
results are not easy to take. We
need to stick together. We have
good players and are confused
why we are in this position.”
BATTLE FOR
PLACES GREAT
FOR GOMES
MOTM ALEX PRITCHARD (HUDDERSFIELD)
HUDDERSFIELD: Grabara 7,
Hadergionaj 6, Schindler 6, Kongolo
6, Brown 6, Hogg 7, Chalobah 7,
Diakhaby 7 (Koroma 79, 7), Pritchard
7 (Campbell 75, 7), Van La Parra 6
(Mbenza 69, 6), Grant 6
READING: Rafael 7, Miazga 6
(McIntyre 12, 6), Morrison 6, Moore 6,
Pele 6, Yiadom 6, Ejaria 7
(Rinomhota 76), Swift 7, Richards 5,
Boye 5 (Puscas 69, 6), Joao 5
REF: Tony Harrington AT T: 21,847
IN ASSOCIATION
WITH
MOTM ADAM FORSHAW (LEEDS UNITED)
STOKE CITY: Federici 7, Edwards 5,
Collins 6, Carter-Vickers 6 (Allen
73), Lindsay 5, McClean 6, Cousins
5, Clucas 5, Etebo 7, Duffy 5
(Hogan 60, 5), Gregory 5
(Ince 73, 6)
LEEDS UNITED: Casilla 6, Dallas 7,
White 7, Berardi 7, Alioski 7, Phillips
7, Hernandez 8 (Costa 79, 7),
Forshaw 9, Klich 7 (Shackleton
85), Harrison 7, Bamford 7
(Nketiah 74, 7)
35% POSSESSION 65%
(^2) SHOTS ON TARGET 10
2 SHOTS OFF TARGET 6
(^4) CORNERS
2 4
OFFSIDE (^1)
(^9) FOULS 11
(^0) 0 CARDS 2 0
MATCH STATS
Ref: Darren England Att: 24,090
target for the league leaders,
to the despair of Stoke’s Sam
Clucas (bottom left).
Jones added: “This is my first
foray into the bottom three. I
don’t like it.
“They’d say this is how you
show your character, how you
show your mettle, how you
come through these times, and
as long as the players are with
you, you can do that.”
feel I can’t change it, it’s flogging
a dead horse, I won’t do that.
“I’m not saying right now I’m
going to walk away. We’re
nowhere near that.
“We shouldn’t be
in the crisis we’re
in, we’re all
underachieving. I
know one way or
another that won’t
continue.”
Jones axed England
keeper Jack Butland
and was grateful to
replacement Adam
Federici for keeping
the score down.
The Potters disap-
peared once Stuart
Dallas opened the
scoring for Leeds. Ezgjan
Alioski (celebrating, top) and
Patrick Bamford were also on
tomorrow in the EFL Cup, when
the outcome will not have a
significant impact on the board’s
thinking. But the result
and performance in the
game after that, at
Birmingham, will.
Jones’ record is
worse than Rowett’s
eight wins from 26
league games before
he was sacked, and the
board will come to a
decision during the
international break
following the visit to
St Andrew’s.
“As far as I’m
aware I’ve a good
relationship with them,
they see the work we’re
doing,” said Jones. “That won’t
continue for ever, I know that,
I’m not stupid. If at any point I
BY JOHN WRAGG
NATHAN JONES will walk
away if he feels he is not the
man to rescue Stoke.
Jones has been in charge for
seven months, is finding it hard
to rid the Championship’s bottom
club of their losing mentality and
is not planning to stay around to
“flog a dead horse”.
Three wins in 25 league games
is testing the patience of a Potters
board loathe to make another
change after getting rid of Mark
Hughes, Paul Lambert and Gary
Rowett in 19 months.
Stoke play Leeds again
Stoke gaffer won’t put up with failure:
‘If it’s flogging a dead horse, I won’t do that’
STOKE CITY 0
LEEDS UNITED 3
Dallas 42 , Alioski 50 , Bamford 66
AL TO PAY FOR POTTERS
Alioski nets to give Leeds a two-goal
cushion not long after the break and
(below) frustrated Stoke boss Jones
u
CHAMPIONSHIP
P W D L F A Pts
Leeds 5 4 1 0 10 2 13
Swansea 5 4 1 0 11 4 13
Charlton 5 3 2 0 9 5 11
Bristol City 5 3 1 1 9 6 10
Fulham 5 3 0 2 9 4 9
Preston 5 3 0 2 10 6 9
Sheff Wed 5 3 0 2 7 4 9
West Brom 5 2 3 0 7 5 9
Nottm Forest 5 2 2 1 8 5 8
Millwall 5 2 2 1 4 6 8
Reading 5 2 1 2 8 6 7
QPR 5 2 1 2 7 8 7
Blackburn 5 2 1 2 3 4 7
Cardiff (^5 2 1) 2 6 8 7
Birmingham (^5 2 1) 2 4 7 7
Derby (^5 1 3 1) 6 6 6
Middlesbro (^5 1 2 2 5 6 5)
Luton (^5 1 1 3 8 9 4)
Brentford (^5 1 1 3 2 4 4)
Hull (^5 1 1 3 5) 8 4
Barnsley (^5 1 1 3 4 9 4)
Wigan (^5 1 0 4) 4 11 3
Huddersfield 5 0 (^1 4) 4 9 1
Stoke (^5 0 1 4) 5 13 1