Royals deepen Latics' woes
Steve Coppell's solid first season in the top flight continues
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Fulham have been drawn at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth round of the FA Cup as most of the big teams were kept apart. |  |
Tuesday, 30, Jan 2007 10:55
Wigan fell to their ninth consecutive defeat as a determined Reading side stormed back to take all three points at the Madejski Stadium.
Paul Jewell's side must have hoped their miserable run might finally be coming to an end when Emile Heskey put them in the lead after three minutes.
The home defence were caught all at sea by an apparently aimless pass forward by Josip Skoko and the former England striker seized on the loose ball, unleashing a powerful half-volley that crashed past Marcus Hahnemann.
It seemed even that opener had failed to shake the home side out of their slumber as debutant Caleb Folan was afforded space six yards out to leave the crossbar humming from a fiercely-stuck effort.
At the other end the hosts were looking more focused however and, after Steve Sidwell had spurned an open goal, Ivar Ingimarsson levelled the game with a strong header from Leroy Lita's good work.
Reading turned the screw on their opponents in the second half, and with a jittery Chris Kirkland failing to instil confidence in his defensive colleagues, it took just six minutes from the restart before they were ahead.
Shane Long was the grateful beneficiary of Kirkland's latest error as the goalkeeper spilled a cross he should have claimed and Lita found the Irish striker unmarked for a routine nod home.
Lita finally bagged the goal his performance deserved on 88 minutes as he stroked home from a tight angle after Kirkland had again allowed the ball to escape his grasp under pressure.
Denny Landzaat's injury-time strike came too late to be the basis of any comeback and his side must now look forward to the weekend's game against Portsmouth as their next chance to stop the rot.