Reading YMCA faced Royal Mail for the second consecutive Saturday and it was the Young Men who again ended up with the points after another hard-fought encounter.

YM had beaten their Tilehurst rivals 3-1 the previous Saturday in an even contest and there was again little to choose between the sides despite YM leading 3-0 with 20 minutes to go.

YM got off to a flyer and were 2-0 up inside the opening 15 minutes.  The opener came when wide midfielder Steve Woodrow hit a deep corner which eluded everybody apart from YM striker Drew Tipper who leaped well to bang home a header at the far post.

Mail hardly had time to draw breath before Tipper doubled his tally when a long free-kick from player-manager Mark Lemm sailed over the Mail defence into the path of Tipper who met the ball with another fine header and although the Mail keeper got a glove to the ball it tricked over the line.

In a repeat of the previous week, Mail refused to surrender and took the game to their opponents whilst YM began to lose their way and frequently gave away possession.  Glenn Povey and Justice Maze were again particularly lively for Mail whilst Morai Dumbaya worked the line well.

Mail found themselves in several good attacking situations without finding the breakthrough although Paul Vickers went close with a header from a corner.  A goalmouth scramble in the YM area saw keeper Scott Mortimer bravely dive at the feet of a Mail player to prevent a goal whilst the YM defence were required to bail their team out of trouble with last ditch tackles.

Mail came closest to pulling a goal back just before the break when a drive from Adie Wickham flew inches past the post but YM managed to hold on until the break with their 2-goal lead intact.

An aerial collision just before the break forced YM skipper Tim Sidwell to exit the game with a gashed forhead and YM boss was forced to re-shuffle with Dave Morrison coming on for his first start of the season at left back and Adie Kearsey moving into midfield.

The tempo slowed somewhat at the start of the second half with both defences managing to snuff out the other team's attacking threat.  Mail were still looking the more threatening and had the luxury of bringing on Slouth Town player Mark Bartley midway through the half to increase their attacking options.

YM were building some neat attacks but often the decision making in the final third let them down but they did produce a couple of moments of magic to put the game seemingly beyond doubt.  YM wide man Darren Cornell was released down the right hand side were he took a touch before delivering a vicious drive into the box towards Tipper who stooped down low with his head to direct the ball into the roof of the net for his hat-trick - all with his head.

With less than 20mins left it looked as though YM would coast to victory but a couple of contreverial penalty decisions totally changed the complexion of the game.

First, Lemm was adjudged to have brought down Bartley on the edge of the area which incensed the YM players who were adament that no contact had been made.  Bartley dusted himself off to convert the penalty.  Amazingly, Mail were awarded another penalty less than 5 minutes later with Lemm again at the centre of the action with the referee adjudging he had impeded a Mail player when completing a defensive header.  Again Bartley made no mistake from the spot.

Suddenly, panic set in amongst the YM ranks as Mail pounded the YM goal sensing an unlikely comeback and they should have equalised when Dumbaya squeezed through the YM defence before hitting a low drive but the excellent Scott Mortimer, who was making his 50th appearance for the club, was on hand to thwart the striker.

The drama then continued when YM were awarded a penalty at the other end as the referee adjudged that Mail defender Mark Brown was holding down Lemm in the box as he attempted to reach a throw in.  Again it seemed a harsh decision but defender Danny Fitzpatrick continued his goalscoring form of the previous season to grab his 2nd goal in 2 games.

But still YM were unable to see the game out as a mix up between David Rolfe and keeper Mortimer resulted in Rolfe heading into his own net to make the score 4-3.

And that is how it finished with YM manager Lemm relieved to hang on the win "We did OK last week and just about deserved the points but I have to say I thought Mail had the better of this one.

It was the same pattern as last week from our point of view with us taking an early lead and then struggling to control the tempo and kill the game off.

Mail have got an amazing spirit this season though and they never throw in the towel and they will definitely shock a few teams.

I would have to give us 4/10 for our performances so far this season and there is alot of work to do but on the positive side we have picked up 2 wins without being at our best."

READING YMCA: MORTIMER, KEARSEY, ROLFE, M LEMM, FITZPATRICK, CORNELL, SIDWELL (replaced D MORRISON 45min), ZIELINSKI, EDMUNDS, WOODROW (replaced BUCKLEY 65min), A TIPPER SUBS D MORRISON, BUCKLEY, MEAKIN (NOT USED).

LEMMY'S MOM - ANDREW TIPPER

Reading YMCA Rapids' secured their first ever win with a comfortable 4-0 win over fellow new boys AFC Corinthians Res

Teenage sensation Robert Maslen opened the scoring when he raced on to a Steve Wood throughball to slot past the advancing keeper.

Ryan Tipper made in 2-0 when he headed home an excellent Sean Kenny corner.

And was left to Scott "Hammer" Smith to wrap up victory in his first appearance of the season when he calmly slid the ball past the keeper after a good pass by Maslen and then showed neat footwork in the box to convert a Marcus Sanigar assist.

Rapids boss Paul O'Boyle said "It is great to get off the mark with our first points and I was really pleased with the performance today.  There is plenty still to work on but alot of these lads are still learning the game.
The spirit is excellent though and if we keep improving we could have a good season."

READING YMCA RAPIDS: HARRIES, SANIGAR, SILLEY, C TIPPER, WOOD, T MORRISON, KENNY, R TIPPER (replaced SPENCER 65mins), GROVER (replaced TOWNER 45mins), SMITH (replaced MAHARJAN 75mins), MASLEN SUBS TOWNER, SPENCER, MAHARJAN.

BOILER'S MAN OF THE MATCH - SEAN KENNY

YM vice captain Dave Rolfe has started the current campaign where he left off by polling the players man of the match award vs Royal Mail in the opening day fixture. Rolfe polled 70% of the votes with new boy Aidey Kearsy in 2nd with 20%, and stand in centre half Tim Zielinski 3rd with 10%. A solid YM rearguard helped the side to a 3-1 win over mail.