Half-time: Chelsea 1 Reading 2
A terrible mistake by Petr Cech left Chelsea trailing at the interval against promoted Reading.
Frank Lampard put the European champions ahead with a 17th-minute penalty after Eden Hazard had been brought down by Chris Gunter.
But former Fulham man Pavel Pogrebnyak equalised with a brilliant header into the far corner from Garath McLeary’s right-wing cross.
And the Royals went ahead when Danny Guthrie’s tamely-struck free-kick, which was hit straight at Cech, ended up in the net after being woefully fumbled by the Chelsea keeper.
Chelsea’s opener was richly deserved as they had dominated the early stages, with Hazard dragging a shot wide after being put through by Juan Mata, and Ramires having an effort saved by Royals keeper Adam Federici after racing on to Branislav Ivanovic’s pass.
Reading initially continued to look vulnerable after going behind – not least when Fernando Torres nutmegged Gunter and skipped away from Kaspars Gorkss before being stopped by Alex Pearce’s last-ditch challenge.
However. two goals in the space of five minutes left Stamford Bridge stunned – and Chelsea with work to do in the second half.
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RogerThat
22/08/2012 @ 8:45 pm
Cech is now useless