LONDON: Veteran French striker Yann Kermorgant’s penalty gave Reading a 1-0 victory over Fulham on Tuesday that sent Jaap Stam’s side into the Championship play-off final. With the score locked at 1-1 from the first leg, Kermorgant, 35, settled matters with a nerveless second-half penalty to delight the fans at a packed Madejski Stadium and secure a 2-1 aggregate win. “We trained on penalties yesterday and Yann was the only one who scored! So he had to do it today,” said Reading manager Stam, the former Manchester United, AC Milan and Netherlands centre-back. Reading, who last played in the Premier League in 2012-13, will play either Sheffield Wednesday or Huddersfield Town in the play-off final at Wembley on May 29.
Yann Kermorgant celebrates scoring the first goal for Reading. — Reuters[/caption]
The two Yorkshire clubs’ semi-final concludes at Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground on Wednesday, with the score 0-0 from the first leg. There was precious little to separate Reading and Fulham over the 180 minutes of their tie and ultimately it took a penalty to divide them. Defender Tomas Kalas was the guilty party for Fulham, with his handball enabling Kermorgant to score from the spot in the 49th minute, taking his tally for the campaign to 19 goals.
Reading had missed six penalties prior to Tuesday’s game and Kermorgant squandered a spot-kick for Leicester City in a play-off semifinal against Cardiff City in 2010 when an attempted Panenka backfired. But on this occasion he made no mistake, slamming the ball to Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli’s right to leave Stam’s side one win from the big time. “It’s great to be back at Wembley,” said Stam, who won the FA Cup at the stadium with United in 1999.
“I’ve been in my playing career so as a manager, with a lot at stake, it’s going to be nice.” Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic felt the result was not a fair reflection on his side’s performance. “Did the best team lose — Yes,” he said. “We played better football, it’s true. We are the best team, but we are not going to play the final. “We didn’t put the ball in the net and we paid an expensive price. But I am proud of my team and how they played tonight and all season.” — AFP
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