Reading 1 (Cox 62)
Lyon 0
The Royals earned an excellent 1-0 win over Lyon in the Peace Cup today.
Simon Cox struck just after the hour with a very nice finish, and we were afforded the luxury of a missed penalty from Kevin Doyle after only five minutes.
It was a cracking game, with numerous chances at both ends.
Lyon showed that they are a top side, but we defended resolutely throughout, with Graham Stack making some important saves.
Kalfa Cisse made a very good impression on his first start for the Royals, and we now have a chance of making the final after this excellent performance.
River Plate defeated Shimizu 1-0 in the other match, meaning that we need River to lose in the final game, and we have to better Lyon's score by one or more goals.
Reading (4-4-2): Stack; Murty (c), Golbourne, Bikey, Duberry; Harper (Gunnarsson 28), Cisse (Oster 65), Cox (Halls 78), Hunt; Doyle, Long
Subs: Federici, Shorey, Ingimarsson, Pearce, Bennett, Robson-Kanu, Henry, Kitson
Yellow cards: Cisse, Golbourne
Lyon (4-4-2): Vercoutre; Reveillere, Belhadj, Cris (c) (Paillot 51), Muller; Kallstrom, Santos (Diarra 73), Bodmer (Govou 56), Mounier (Ben Arfa 59); Baros (Benzema 59), Keita (Loic 73)
Subs: Coupet, Hartock, Clerc, Grosso, Toulalan
Yellow cards: Reveillere, Santos, Benzema
Referee: Kim Eui Soo
Attendance: 28,320
Full report
Reading settled into the game very nicely, much better than they had done in the previous game against River Plate.
Right winger Simon Cox put in an excellent ball early on, but it was just behind a number of onrushing Royals.
With five minutes gone, Reading had a great chance to go ahead when they were awarded a penalty as Kevin Doyle raced ino the box, only to be brought down by Anthony Reveillere.
Doyle strode up to take the spot kick himself, but it was rather comfortably saved by Remy Vercoutre, who palmed it straight into Shane Long's path. The young Irishman was racing in at pace, but really should have scored, only to get his feet all wrong and miscue completely.
Kalifa Cisse was making a very impressive start to his Reading career, and showed he likes to get forward when he practically nudged Doyle out the way on the edge of the Lyon six yard box to win a header that was directed at Vercoutre.
Reading were playing well, but Lyon remained threatening, with Abdul Keita catching the eye on a number of occasions.
Graham Stack had to make a good save to deny Anthony Mounier after an incisive break involving Milan Baros.
Chances were coming at both ends, and Doyle had another great opportunity on 16 when Graeme Murty floated a very good ball into him. The Irishman took too long though, allowing Cris time to tackle when the striker ought to have done better.
It was end-to-end, and Keita forced Stack into another good save.
James Harper was unfortunately forced off injured just before the half hour as blood gushed from a wound on his head. The referee was a little slow to stop play, despite an obvious head injury to our midfield man.
As Harper was off receiving treatment, Lyon almost nicked a goal as Mounier turned inches wide of Stack's left post. Brynjar Gunnarsson was then thrown on to steady the ship.
Cox almost nabbed a goal when his well-delivered free kick drifted only a couple of feet wide of the far post.
Cisse continued to impress, putting in a couple of excellent block challenges, and showing a good eye for a pass as well.
Lyon were doing more of the pressing before the break, but Reading stood firm. The only downside from the first half was that the Royals hadn't taken one of their chances.
Second half
The high tempo continued after the break, and Cox was merely inches away from a goal as he clipped the outside of the post on 47 following a good move.
On 62, the youngster had his goal. Long did well to find space down the right, and darted into the box. With bodies around him, his pass found Cox and he made no mistake left-footed from ten yards.
Stack made another very good save, this time from Nadir Belhadj's long-range stonker.
Reading were a little under the kosh, but defended brilliantly. Andre Bikey and Michael Duberry both made a number of superb challenges in the middle.
Scott Golbourne also caught the eye with a very dependable performance, while skipper Murty was rock solid in his first game since March.
Bikey and Stack almost got themselves in a middle at one point, but cleared up nicely in the end.
There was a late scare as Stack couldn't hold a long range shot on the very wet surface, but he reacted brilliantly to get up and save at the second attempt.
It was a great team performance, and the Royals were proud to say they had beaten the six-time consecutive French Champions with a goal from a home-grown player.
