Stottie

Stating the obvious and crying over split milk, but it would have been Rafa vs. Mou. I think Rafa has the upper hand in cup competitions. With us in the Championship, it would have been pitched as a huge banana skin for Man U with all the pressure on them. A must win to avoid ridicule. Had we somehow got through, Rafa vs. Liverpool for the final. The perfect script. One up against ten men. What a waste.

Horrible horrible stories, and the only silver lining is that it is good that it's finally coming to the surface. My heart goes out to the victims. I suppose it's also better that the ignorant opinions of certain people can be out so that they can be challenged.

All too predictable I'm afraid, from his past performances. He should have stopped the Huddlestone penalty too.

What a waste. Losing from one up against ten men. Very very poor.

I didn't see the interview but assuming there wasn't one, a question about how Shelvey played might have a decent wind up.

In their record points total (106 point) year of 2005-06, Reading were promoted on March 25 according to the wiki for that season. It mightn't be the record, but you'd imagine that it wouldn't be far off. In their case, it was twenty points ahead of third with six games to play. It's only so late because of the ol' mathematical certainty. They were obviously up much earlier than that. They were 20 points ahead of third on Boxing Day, with fourth also twenty behind but with a game in hand The table for March 25 that season can be seen here. Play around with the date to see how they pulled away. After 17 games like us now, they weren't even top. http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2005-2006/table/2006-03-25

Great win. Didn't get out of second gear. 40 points! Eight straight wins! Sixth away clean sheet out of nine played! Gayle now halfway to 25 for the season.

Arsenal-like goal. Well played!

Thank ferk for that. HT

Aye, maybe elbow out as self-defence saved him. Looked a pen to me though.

Hope we can see our lead out to HT. We've been a bit shaky in a number of games around this time.

Colback as Xabi Alonso! 1-0!

Gayle unlucky! Another well-worked set piece.

High-paced start. Nice routine for our first corner!

Think he'll go somewhere closer to Laandon. There is that factor too, but if he's serious about coaching (he sounded it the other day in an interview) and likes Benitez, this story could have something to it, rather than the usual stuff journos simply invent. I think our third oldest current first teamer is Darlow, so it would be good to have some more experience around the team, in some capacity or other.

Lampard sounds more interested in coaching than punditry and played (very well) under Benitez at Chelsea. He's got no future as a player, but Benitez will know if he'd be a good bloke to have around. My guess is that he would be.

Yaya again!

Three of the four teams in the playoff places currently have a negative goal difference. It's not the sign of a strong league.

Yaya 1-0

Their home form is 4W 1D 1L in the last 6 home games, only 8 for but 4 against. They don't average many shots a game at home, and our goal difference is more than their goals scored. They average 50% possession, so maybe not a Swansea type approach from Monk.

Man City's eighteenth shot by the sounds.

YESSS!

Maybe Giggs but eight of the lads in the starting eleven are 25 or younger. Gouff 30, Clark 27 (nowt for a CH), and Darlow at 26 are our "veterans".

Gerrin! Another assist for Mitro by the sounds. I don't think Gayle has one yet.

I don't know if his agent told him what to say, but that sounds very humble. He seemed to have a semi-breakthrough at Palace under Pulis, and may have grounds to regret the managerial changes that followed, including of course Pardew not playing him.