A late Johnny Adey header earned Reading YMCA a valuable point against a Westwood Utd side who dominated the game for long periods.
 
The point stretches YM's unbeaten league run to 13 games but it was a flat performance by the home side who are the main challengers to Woodley Town for the Senior Division title.
 
Both sides were by were by injury and unavailability with YM continuing to miss top scorer Martin Abery as well as Chris Lemm, Sam Cripps and Nader Edmunds whilst Westwood were without Ryan Kingsbeer, Peter Powell and James Simpson.  The 2 teams also had a keeper crisis with YM missing all 3 registered keepers and Westwood also missing regular shot stopper Gavin Smith.  Player Manager Mark Lemm was forced to don the gloves for the home side whilst outfield player Jason Wagner pulled out the short straw for the visitors.
 
YM looked strangely subdued in the opening minutes with Westwood taking the game to them with some slick passing and penetrative attacking play.  Westwood's lively front pairing of Ashley Baynham and Ryan Adams were causing problems and Baynham almost opened the scoring when he stole in front of a defender to head narrowly wide.
 
YM striker Luke Kasonde was working hard in attack but they were limited to the odd breakaway with Adey going closest when his shot crashed into the side netting.
 
Westwood eventually took a deserved lead when a precise build up saw the ball find Adam Kingbeer bursting through from midfield and he steadied himself before smashing the ball into the bottom corner.
 
YM fired back straight away though when Drew Tipper was found on the edge of the box where he played a deft through ball through to Kasonde who outstipped the Westwood defence before stabbing the ball past Wagner.
 
YM came more into the game in the final 20 minutes of the half but it was the YM defence who were forced to work considerably harder to keep the scores level.
 
The pattern continued in the 2nd half with Westwood playing some impressive football forcing YM to dig in and defend well.  YM's defence showed why they have the best defensive record in the league during this spell with Ben Green in particularly outstanding form.
 
YM seemed to have weathered the storm until Westwood were gifted a goal on 65 minutes when Lemm came rushing out to dive on a through ball only to see the ball squirm from his hands into the path of Adam who gleefully slotted into the empty net.
 
But rather than let their heads go down the Young Men got fired up for one last effort and, with subs Nick Seymour Steve Daly joining the fray, YM were handed an injection of energy as they reverted to a 4-3-3 formation for the closing minutes. 
 
The game became stretched as both sides created chances.  YM's Sam Jennings, Seymour and Adey all went close whilst YM had Daly to thank for superb tackle on Adams which denied a certain goal.  Baynham then had the best chance to wrap things up when a cross found him unmarked at the back post but he elected to try and head when a voley might have been better.
 
With 10 minutes left, YM won a corner on the right and Tipper's immaculately flighted delivery saw Adey rise above the Westwood defence to head powerfully into the net.
 
YM boss Lemm reflected "We were flat today and got out of jail really as Westwood were the better side and deserved to win.

We didn't get the point by luck though, the defence were superb and we stayed positive when we could have let our heads drop after the 2nd goal. 
 
I thought Westwood were excellent today going forward and there aren't many better attacking teams then them at this level so this could prove to be a massive point in the context of our season."


READING YMCA: M LEMM, GREEN, CASSIDY, ALLEN, ADEY, FITZPATRICK (replaced by DALY 75mins), BULLETT (replaced by SEYMOUR 70mins), D TIPPER, CORNELL, KASONDE, JENNINGS SUBS SEYMOUR, DALY, ROLFE (not used).

LEMMY'S MOM: BEN GREEN

The Rapids got back to winning ways with a 9 goal show against Winnersh on saturday at Pangbourne. YM went in to the game on the back of 2 shock defeats but soon set about putting it right when Dean Williams went through on goal and made no mistake slotting the ball to the right of the Winnersh keeper. It appaeared as though YM might have a farily easy day but the away side came roaring back in to the match when stand in keeper Paul Towner has a rush of blood and the nippy forward slotted the ball home to draw the sides level. Steve Woodrow was rolling back the years with some top drawer left wing crosses and it was his centre that Tim Sidwell finished with cool volley to grab the first of his 3 goals. Once again YM allowed the away side back in when the same forward grabbed an opportunists goal and levelled the scores once again. Mark Ilsley soon regained the lead for the Rapids when the centre half met a Jamie Froud corner and powered the ball in to the net. Williams then grabbed his second of the game to ensure YM went in to the break with a 2 goal cushion.

The second period was all YM and it was Dave Morrison who grabbed the 5th with a cool finish after good work by Jamie Froud down the right side, but it was Sidwell who delivered the spectacular 6th goal to put the game beyond the visitors. Froud delivered yet another top drawer corner that was cleared to the corner of the box where the YM skipper set himself and unleashed an unstoppable shot in to the top left hand corner that left the Winnersh keepr stranded. Sidwell then completed his treble with another long range effort after a good one two with Morrison. Lewis Evans finished calmly on 79 minutes after a defensive mixup before Towner had his second rush of blood and let the Winnersh forward in for his hat trick. The final goal of the game was perhaps the most bizarre when a Williams square pass was inadvertantly diverted in to his own net from all of 50 yards by a Winnersh centre half to complete the scoring.

RAPIDS: TOWNER, LEACH, ILSLEY, KENNY, WOOD, FROUD, CAYZER, SIDWELL, WOODROW, MORRISON, WILLIAMS. SUBS: SUTTON (Replaced Williams 80), EVANS (Replaced Wood 65)

LINDS MOM: TIM SIDWELL