I hate to say I 'told you so' but if you listened to Thom Kirwin's Sunday night radio show you would have heard me call the Championship finalists of 2016/17. Yes I predicted that Reading would play Huddersfield Town at Wembley for a chance to play a season of Premier League football and collect over one hundred million pounds for their troubles. I'm pretty sure not many would have called it the same way, Fulham and Sheffield had impressive runs into the final weeks of the season, so good it left Leeds to wonder what might have been. The playoffs are usually nervy affairs with both this season were draws; Reading going ahead before Fulham levelled matters and Sheffield Wednesday coming away from the John's Smith's stadium. The owls seemed happy after one of the most boring semi finals most fans have ever seen. All to play for in the second legs. In a game that the Reading goalkeeper claimed the plaudits, Kermorgant gave the home side the lead from the penalty spot, after a dubious award of a second half penalty. Try as they may Fulham could not beat the inspired Al Habsi, the team nobody fancied had done it. In Sheffield, the home side laid siege to the Town goal and were rewarded with a second half goal from Fletcher, only for Wells to reply. Extra time came and only Ward kept the home side out, so it was penalties that would arrange who joined Reading beneath the arch at Wembley. Strangely a ten million pound striker wasn't among the Wednesday first five penalty takers, seems a lot to pay for a man that hasn't done bugger all since moving from Boro. It has to be said was that key players like that should not be AWOL when needed at a key stage of the game. Huddersfield won the shoot out 4-3, Forresteri missing Sheffield's last one was priceless so Wembley bound Town are.
If you take the League Two semi finals that concluded last night and compare them with the drab games that represented the Championship, you'd be surprised and how much more inclined you would be to watch the fourth division's final instead. Both games saw 95th minute goals deciding the final with a total of 11 goals from two games and 22 from the overall fixtures. Luton fought back a 3-2 loss against Blackpool but were ultimately silenced by a last ditch own goal while Exeter fought through a nervy last 10 minutes and came out victorious. If there's a playoff final you want to watch, I would consider that one. But for the bout between Reading and Huddersfield: Will people flick on their TV's with pop and crisps? I won't and I think many other fans will feel the same, it may be a massive game but the teams that are taking part don't inspire the imagination. Sour grapes of course it bloody is as I think a Leeds team in full flow would have ultimately gained revenge on two defeats against Town and although Reading beat Leeds on their patch, at ours we beat them minus Chris Wood for sixty minutes, despite them having the majority of possession, doing nothing with it. I'll be away abroad and will probably hear the score via Social Media, I shan't be wasting a few hours of my holiday watching it that's for sure! MOT By Keith Ingham
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January 2019
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