Premier League Relegation: Can Reading rival Lazarus for the ultimate comeback?

 

Romilly Evans ponders Reading's recent reversal of fortune and assesses their chances of avoiding the drop

 

Reading have been the one team this season whose ghost has been readily given up by commentators when it comes to Premier League survival. Yet, at 5pm on Saturday, they were out of the relegation zone for the first time in a long time - and were only put back in their box after Aston Villa's draw at the Hawthorns in the evening kick-off.

 

Comebacks from the dead are usually the province of Abrahamic deities and the midnight séance, but manager Brian McDermott has found football's very own Ouija board in recent games, inspiring two stirring late rallies from seemingly hopeless positions.

 

First came Reading's fight-back at home to West Brom, where they scored three times in the closing eight minutes to dig out a 3-2 victory. It was a victory so unlikely that they were backed at 470.0 on Betfair to pull it off.

 

Then they repeated the magic away at Newcastle, having once more been totally outplayed for large sections of the game.

 

Adam Le Fondre was again the hero, bagging a brace in six minutes to turn the match on its head at 2-1. It was the Royals' first ever win on Tyneside since records began in 1900. Lionel Messi and RVP should step aside, since Le Fondre is now arguably the hottest striker in world football, having scored four goals from his last five shots on target. Nevertheless, he still can't make Reading's starting XI.

 

That's because McDermott prefers to save his super sub's energies for the latter stages of a game when opposition defenders are tiring. It's hard to criticize this strategy either, as Le Fondre's pace and vitality would get him shortlisted a Winalot Prime advert - while his nose for goal clearly rivals that of a bloodhound. Not bad for a lad who was languishing in obscurity at Rotherham until 2011.

 

This ability to destabilize second-half defences is statistically borne out by Reading's uncanny ability to score goals in the final 15 minutes of top-flight encounters this term. You might expect Manchester United to top the charts in this regard, but it is actually the Royals who have scored the highest proportion of goals in this pivotal period (over 35%). Something to bear in mind for in-play betting.

 

It's all a far cry from earlier in the season when Reading were on the receiving end of some unwelcome recoveries from the Premier League's brighter lights. In the Capital One Cup, Arsenal came from 4-0 down to triumph 7-5, before Man United then visited more home horrors on Reading at the Madejski Stadium, rallying from 3-2 down to grab the expected victory. McDermott took some plaudits, but their opponents were taking the wins.

 

However, it seems that the Royals have learnt something from those comeback kings and have turned the tables accordingly. Turning the Premier League table around is next on the agenda and considering Reading now stand a mere 10 points off the top half, they are no longer the forlorn hopes to avoid the drop zone. Certainly, anyone who has matched them at odds-on to finish Rock Bottom - and far shorter in the Relegation market - has grounds for concern (currently available at 1.52 to back).

 

McDermott has added defensive backbone to their offensive flair and, with three wins in their last four games, the Royals have become a counter-attacking threat who are hard to break down. And while Le Fondre continues to steal the headlines, the man that's been keeping them in it while opponents are dominating has been Adam Federici. The Aussie goalkeeper has pulled off some spectacular stops in recent matches and the weekend provided another eloquent case in point.

 

Not long ago, Reading were touching the void. Now they are back within touching distance of safety. Near-death experiences are typically confounded by the fact that the subject in question did not actually die. Perhaps we wrote Reading off too soon. For in the darkest depths of winter, the lights of hope are back on at the Madejski.

 

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