Jonsereds IF 0
Reading 8 (Robson-Kanu 2, 12, 30, Church 15, 73, Davies 18, 76, Gunnarsson 81)
The Royals earned an emphatic 8-0 victory in the first game of their Swedish pre-season tour.
Hal Robson-Kanu scored a first half hat-trick, while Simon Church and Scott Davies each bagged two goals.
Captain Brynjar Gunnarsson rounded off the scoring with a late header to put the seal on a good evening's work in the Swedish countryside.
We were dominant from start to finish, and Brendan Rodgers' men produced a very incisive performance with their 4-3-3 formation.
Seven of our eight goals came from products of the Reading Academy, and save for a shoulder injury to Kalifa Cisse, it was a perfect night.
Reading (4-3-3): Federici; Rosenior, Bertrand, Cisse (Bikey HT), Pearce; Gunnarsson (c), Tabb, Davies; Robson-Kanu, Kebe (Henry 80), Church
Subs: Hamer, Andersen, Armstrong, Karacan, Matejovsky, Sigurdsson, Long, Mooney
Attendance: 189
Full report
The game was played in beautiful surroundings, with the stadium juxtaposed against the backdrop of the 150m-high Kahogsberget mountains.
Reading's start to the game was also picture perfect, and with just two minutes gone Brendan Rodgers' men were ahead. Liam Rosenior put in a deep cross and Jimmy Kebe cut in from the left to get a shot away. It was blocked, but Hal Robson-Kanu was in a good position to neatly turn it home left-footed from eight yards.
Possession belonged almost exclusively to those in blue and white, and on 12 minutes it was 2-0 thanks to a nice goal. Captain Brynjar Gunnarsson played a good switch pass to Robson-Kanu, who cut in well and tucked home at the near post for a quick second.
Just a minute later it was 3-0 and again the goalscorer was an Academy product with a third crisp left-footed finish of the night. This time it was Simon Church who found the back of the net, drilling it home expertly after latching onto a pass from Ryan Bertrand.
Welsh international Church was then inches away from a quickfire second, sidefooting past the post from ten yards.
But the floodgates had certainly opened, and with only 18 minutes gone it was 4-0 thanks to the best goal of the game. Scott Davies' ability to score from distance was clear to all who were present at Monday's Graeme Murty testimonial match, but news of his thunderbolt shot had clearly not spread to west Sweden and the home side backed off at their peril as he smashed home a 25-yarder right into the very top corner.
Just after the midway point Robson-Kanu was desperately close to another goal as he slid in on a low Kebe cross, but he did not have to wait long to get his hat-trick. Davies played a cracking long pass to him, and the winger's touch was just as impressive, taking it down beautifully before cutting in and scoring from 18 yards via the keeper's legs.
It had been a very professional performance from our team, and the home PA announcer did have a few pearls of wisdom at half time...'buy our eminent hotdogs and get renewed energy for the second half!'
Second half
Andre Bikey was on at half time, replacing Kalifa Cisse, who had his arm in a sling after a shoulder injury. Noel Hunt, James Harper and Nicholas Bignall were also injury victims and were not named in our playing squad.
With two minutes of the second half gone Rosenior was close to a brilliant goal, smacking the corner of post and bar with a superb angled effort from all of 35 yards.
The home side brought on a replacement goalkeeper at the break, and it certainly appeared that Marcus Johansson had eaten his hotdogs because he denied Church, Kebe, Davies and Jay Tabb as we continued to get shots and crosses in on goal.
We kept a good tempo in the second half, and continued to work hard against a home side understandably keen to defend and keep the score down.
It took a good pass from Kebe and a nice clipped finish from Church to make it 6-0, and it was further reward for the lively Malian and his hard-working striking teammate.
Soon after it was 7-0, and again Davies scored from distance. This time it was a curled right-footed free kick from 20 yards, turned home nicely into the bottom corner after Church had been fouled.
A couple of Jonsered players were booked as tired legs turned into late challenges, and for the first time in this pre-season Rodgers resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes to his team.
Church could and probably should have had his hat-trick on 79, heading wide after a cracking Rosenior cross.
Gunnarsson then had his reward for a good display a moment later, heading home at the second attempt from Robson-Kanu's corner.
Overall it was a very good work-out, and Brendan will be very pleased with his team's efforts. Seven of our eight goals came from products of our Academy, and it was an impressive display all round.
The players are enjoying his attacking 4-3-3 formation and this was an excellent way to being the week-long stay in Sweden. The scoreline was a boost, but so too the manner in which we played and our excellent tempo that continued in the second half.
Nobody will get carried away with a win over a part-time Swedish team, but the evening could not have gone any better.
Look for video highlights on Reading World soon.
