Daily Mail - 19.08.2019

14

Knockout blow:

Puscas (left)

celebrates his

second strike

against Cardiff

REX FEATURES

H

e’s called Puscas and he’s got

a sensational goal in him.

Where have we heard that one

before? At £9million, George

Puscas became Reading’s

most expensive signing ever this

month and he’s already living up to

his price tag — and name.

There were just 23 minutes on the clock

when the Romanian picked up the ball in his

own half. Driving forward down the right, his

stepover put Will Vaulks on his backside

before he curled the ball past Alex smithies

from the tightest of angles.

It was the sort of strike legendary Hungar-

ian forward Ferenc Puskas — who FIFA’s goal

of the year award is named after — would

have been proud of.

The man from the Mighty Magyars scored

622 for club and country across his career. His

namesake settled for two and three points on

his home debut. It could have been so

different — Neil Warnock wanted the ex-Inter

Milan striker this summer. He had other

problems to contend with, though. Lee

Peltier was out with an ankle injury, while he

also dropped Josh Murphy to the bench in

favour of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

After a tepid start, Puscas had his moment.

Breaking from a Cardiff free-kick, he steamed

down the flank and soon found himself

wheeling away to celebrate his first league

goal for the hosts.

Before the break, he had a brace. John swift

DEADLY PUSCAS LIVING

Striker hits pair that legend

would have been proud of

AMITAI WINEHOUSE

at the Madejski Stadium

READING 3

CARDIFF 0

centred from the right and there was

the 23-year-old to poke through the

legs of smithies.

Reading manager Jose Gomes was

happy with his impact but refused to

focus on the new man: ‘It is always

good for the strikers to give them

confidence each time they score.

‘I am happy that he scored but it

doesn’t matter, for me, who scored the

goals. I don’t care about the name of

the player. The most important thing

today is that we got the three points.’

Warnock tried to change the game at

the break, making two attacking sub-

stitutions as he threw on Isaac Vassell

and Callum Paterson.

Reading still had the running of the

game though, and Puscas might have

been frustrated after Lucas Joao shot

over the bar rather than crossing when

he was in space in the box.

With eight minutes left, Puscas did

have a chance to bag his hat-trick. In

the one bad moment of his game

though, with only smithies between

him and the net, he somehow sent the

ball wide. It was his last contribution

before going off to a standing ovation.

When swift burst through and

smashed the ball into the bottom cor-

ner, this second defeat in three for Car-

diff was confirmed. Yakou Meite also

missed a penalty and was then tar-

geted by racist abuse on Twitter.

Warnock’s side were fancied for pro-

motion at the start of the campaign.

On the back of this display, they will

need to step up swiftly to live up to

that billing. Asked about Puscas, War-

nock admitted: ‘He probably was the

difference today. That’s what you pay

for. He’s one of the lads we were

looking at through the summer.

‘But they’ll have stiffer tests than

what they had today.’

He added: ‘When you’re defending

badly like we are, it doesn’t matter if

you’re playing Under 13s or playing in

the Premier League. When you defend

like we have been, you lose games.’

Gomes remains cautious despite the

big win: ‘We won, we must use this

properly, but we cannot dream.’

For Reading fans, after their first

points on the board, there will be only

one name on their minds. At least it’s

an easy one to remember.

Bielsa learns lesson from

LeeDs UNITeD

discovered much about

the harsh realities of

football as their

promotion dreams died

late last season.

In the top two for 33 of

the 46 match days, it

was still not enough to

secure automatic

promotion and Marcelo

Bielsa’s side lost to

Derby in the play-offs.

so they have to go

again, and after three

games they are looking

down on the rest of the

Championship.

One of their biggest

blunders last season

came on Good Friday

when they lost 2-1 at

home to 10-man Wigan.

When Latics midfielder

Joe Williams was sent

off after 21 minutes on

saturday at the DW

stadium, it was the

same scenario. except

this time, the test was

passed with ease as two

goals from Patrick

Bamford (right)

secured a 2-0 win.

Winger Jack Harrison

believes the pain of the

last campaign can have

a beneficial impact.

‘The ups and downs of

last year have made me

better equipped,’ he

said. ‘We are right up

there at the top and

that’s important. The

confidence is there but

things can change so

WIGAN^0

LEEDS 2

ADAM LANIGAN

at the DW Stadium

At the double: Waghorn (right) PA