Reading YMCA got back to winning ways after 2 consecutive defeats by earning a 1-0 win over Berks County Sports - a result that moves the Young Men up into second spot in the table.

YM went into the game missing several players including top scorers Danny Fitzpatrick and Drew Tipper as well as skipper Tim Sidwell but they were boosted by the inclusion of new signing Steve Green who made his debut for the club.  Sports also paraded new signing Stuart White who has been snapped up from Thatcham Town.

YM started brightly in an unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation with the fledgling strike partnership of Steve Woodrow and Steve Green creating problems with
their pace and movement.   Nader Edmunds was also prominent in the opening
exchanges and made several probing runs into Sports territory.

YM's Darren Cornell and Woodrow both saw long range efforts fly over the bar whilst Edmunds rounded off a typically powerful run by delivering a cross across the face of the goal but nobody was on hand to turn the ball in.

Sports were enjoying their fair share of possession and territory as well without finding the final ball to create a clear cut chance.  Their best opportunity of opening the scoring seemed to be from set pieces with a glancing header from White drifting narrowly wide and YM were also forced to clear the ball off the line of a couple of occasions after goalmouth scrambles.

There was controversy on the half hour when great tenacity from YM's Green saw him win the ball from a Sports defender and play in strike partner Woodrow whose scuffed shot bobbled between the legs of stand-in keeper Dan Sutherland into the net.  But, despite initially giving the goal protests, from the Sports players saw the referee consult his linesman who ruled the goal out for a foul by Green.

The scoreline remained goaless until half-time after an even contest which had seen YM carve out the slightly better opportunities.

YM had the perfect start to the second period when a long throw from Tim Zielinski was turned into Sports net by their own player whilst under pressure from Mark Lemm.

Sports followed that disappointment with a good 10 minute spell that once again saw YM struggle to control the game after taking a lead.  But despite their possession, Sports couldn't break down the inspired defensive unit of David Rolfe, Adam Cassidy and Lemm.

The impressive Woodrow limped out of the action on the hour with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Andrew Heath and the pace of Green and Heath once again put Sports on the backfoot.  More great play from Man of the Match, Edmunds saw him pull the ball across goal where Green was racing in but he was unable to mark his debut with a goal and blazed over.

Edmunds then had a great chance to extend YM's lead only to shoot before substitute Lee Worth, on for the excellent Green, had the chance of the match.  Worth received the ball in the channel and showed great skill to beat a Sports defender before beating another with a superb dummy.  But, with the goal at his mercy, he lost his footing and the chance went begging.

Sports had thrown on Matt Gorman by this point and he added fresh impetus whilst the introduction of Ian Bradshaw in the last 15 minutes saw them gear up for final assault on the YM goal.

It was Sports best spell of the game but the ball just wouldn't run for them and when White was denied by a superb last-ditch tackle from Rolfe their final chance was gone.

YM player-boss Lemm said "Both teams had their moments in this game and there wasn't much between the sides.  We are slowly showing signs of improvement and there were plenty of positives to be taken from this performance particularly the defensive display which was disciplined and organised.

We are still a long way from where I want us to be though but this was a step in the right direction and has given me some welcome selection headaches ahead of next week's game."

READING YMCA: MORTIMER, M LEMM, ROLFE, CASSIDY, CORNELL, KEARSEY, BULLETT, ZIELINSKI, EDMUNDS, WOODROW (replaced by HEATH 60mins), GREEN (replaced by WORTH 75mins) SUBS HEATH, WORTH, MEAKIN (NOT USED).

LEMMY'S MOM - NADER EDMUNDS

It was a bad day at the office for the Rapids who arrived late after a mix-up over the venue and then blew a 2 goal lead to crash out of the BTC Junior Cup 3-2 to Bell & Bottle.

Bell & Bottle dominated the opening 20 minutes when, against the run of play, Rapids' Luke Buckley hit a 25-yard thunderbolt to open the scoring.
Buckley doubled his tally soon after when he raced on to a Carl Tipper through ball to slot past the keeper.

Bell & Bottle then had a penalty superbly saved by stand-in keeper Paul Towner but they did manage to pull a goal back before the half-time break.

The equalizer came early in the 2nd half and then, despite holding out valiantly for much of the half, Bell & Bottle grabbed the winner in the final seconds.

Rapids boss Paul O'Boyle said "It was just a bad day all round really and of course its always hard to take when you get beat in the final seconds.
They were a physical side and some of our players aren't used to that but they equipped themselves well and will be stronger for this type of game."

READING YMCA RAPIDS: TOWNER, SANIGAR, OLNEY, O'BOYLE (replaced by C TIPPER 15mins), CALLOW, T MORRISON, PATTERSON, KIRBY (replaced by GROVER 75mins), WOOD, BUCKLEY, MASLEN (replaced by SPENCER 70mins) SUBS C TIPPER, SPENCER, GROVER

BOILER'S MAN OF THE MATCH - LUKE BUCKLEY

Centre half Adam Cassidy capped his comeback from suspension with an MOM display in the 2-1 defeat against Mortimer. Cass has been missed in the 1st 3 games of the season looked back to his best with a solid display against the villagers.