A stirring fightback saw Reading YMCA come from 2 goals down with 30 minutes left to play to emerge 3-2 victors over a tough Theale/Royal Mail side.  It was heartbreak for Mail who saw their hopes of an upset dashed by a last minute Drew Tipper goal.

Both sides were understandably rusty in the initial exchanges although Mail were showing greater purpose and energy and they had the first chance when a close range header was cleared off the line.  Mail's lone striker Morlai Dumbaya was proving a real handful for the YM defence whilst Graham Sims and Dan Donegan were winning the midfield battle for the home side.

And it was a fine solo run from Dumbaya on the half hour mark that made the opener when he ghosted past 3 YM defenders before being clipped from behind by Nader Edmunds.  The ever reliable Donegan calmly slotted away the resulting penalty kick. 

YM improved in the final 15 minutes of the half with Tipper going closest with a curling shot from outside the box.  In truth though it was a poor half with neither side showing much in the way of quality football.

YM started the second half at a much faster pace and the omens looked good until they were stunned on 50 minutes when a Donegan cross was met by a glancing header Jerome Coultress to put his side 2-0 up.

The strike galvanised YM and they finally showed signs of the side that were flying before Xmas.  The Young Men pulled a goal back on 60mins when a Jason Wagner cross eluded everyone to sail inside the far post.  Mail were appealing for offside against striker Martin Abery but as Abery did not touch the ball, referee Steve McMahon allowed the goal to stand.

YM were now battering the opponents and Sam Jennings was denied a goal when his effort was chalked off for a dubious offside.  Midfielder Nader Edmunds was getting the whole team going with his non stop workrate and Mail were looking shellshocked.  The 2nd goal came on 70 mins with Mail again appealing for offside when Jennings played in substitute Johhny Adey who slammed a shot against the bar only for Jennings to follow up to fire home the rebound.  The assistant's flag was raised but referee McMahon this time ignored the flag from the increasing erratic Mail assistant.

With the scores deadlocked, Mail then proceeded to have their best spell of the match with Coultress going close and Dwayne Winter through one-on-one only for his shot to be well saved by keeper Scott Hodgetts. Mail also had a succession of corners with the superb delivery of Donegan causing problems on almost every occasion forcing desperate defending from the Young Men.

But YM held firm and with less than a minute remaining, Adey outpaced the Mail defence before squaring the ball back into the box where 4 YM players were unmarked ready to score and it was Tipper who took responsibility to tap home for an amazing comeback.

YM boss Mark Lemm said "We were poor in the 1st half and lacked urgency but going 2-0 down seemed to spark us into life and for a 20 minute spell we were devestating.  Mail gave us a massive scare though and were the better side for a long spell but we never give in and got our reward in the end.

Mail are alot better than their league position suggets though and they will give anyone a hard game.

I was pleased for Johnny Adey to come back and make such an impact as it has been a frustrating time for him missing out with injury over the past few months."


READING YMCA:HODGETTS, CAYZER, GREEN, FITZPATRICK, LEE, DALY (replaced by ADEY 65mins), WAGNER, EDMUNDS, D TIPPER, ABERY (replaced by NEWMAN 80mins), JENNINGS SUBSADEY, NEWMAN.

LEMMY'S MOM - NADER EDMUNDS

TBC

YM RAPIDS: HARVEY, LEACH, CASSIDY, ROLFE, KENNY, BAKER, SIDWELL, CORNELL, WOODROW, D MORRISON, KASONDE. SUBS: TOWNER (Replaced Cornell 75), EVANS (Replaced Sidwell 70)

BOILERS MOM: ADAM CASSIDY