We are coming to the end of a season which in reality finished on a Friday night in March when we were dumped out of the FA Cup by one of this year’s finalist in controversial style. To say that since that game Reading's players have "been on the beach" probably isn’t far from the truth.
After sitting pretty much on the beach bench since he joined, Deniss Rakels has been unleashed in the last few games and is showing signs of potentially being a good option for Reading - he already is starting to get a bit of a cult following.
Given this is an end of season game between two teams whose form has been patchy and the only thing really to play for is bragging rights, then the media and social coverage is as you would expect pretty light. As usual I followed up all the hashtags, but for some reason there wasn’t a lot on #FakeHoops...
So dominating the social scene was the love for Rakels, the management at #Fakehoops QPR and Reading's tribute to the Prince of Pop who died the previous Thursday.
Social
The love for Deniss extends to the Opposition
#love #QPR #readingfc pic.twitter.com/W7jAHLoln2
— DJ Seward (@darrenjseward) April 23, 2016
This guy could have a point - the MadStad hardly rocks these days..
Not a terrible game today, 1-1 was a fair result, a bit rich of reading fans to chant 'is this a library' tho #QPRvREA #QPR
— Gabzy (@gabzy22qpr) April 23, 2016
Yep about right
Well that was average... onwards and upwards next season #QPR
— Michael Josh (@MichaelJosh9) April 23, 2016
And you think you’re the only teams that suffer from this…
Fed up of draws away defeats lucky last minute winners. Need more attacking intent. Big job this summer it's seems. @jf9hasselbaink #qpr
— Ben Platt_qpr (@bplatt23) April 23, 2016
It’s not only Reading's managers that have divided the fanbase
JFH 6 wins in 24, relegation form. Watch out nx season! #QPR
— Kevin Gibbs (@g_erb) April 23, 2016
Big fan of JFH but he has a lot to learn, doesn't help himself by bringing players on too late. #QPR
— Sebbie (BFG) Polter (@JoshyNewcombe) April 23, 2016
There’s only one Rudolf Nureyev...
We're playing ballerinas today, judging by that kit #QPR
— Amy (@qprfox10) April 23, 2016
Purple Rain, Purple Rain…
I hope Reading are wearing lilac in honour of Prince, as there can be no other excuse for that strip #QPR pic.twitter.com/RIp0FCCcca
— Marz (@mmccrohan) April 23, 2016
Media
A mid table clash that has little impact on the league or any of the battles for promotion and relegation obviously didn’t get a lot of coverage this weekend.
As usual the video package from SkySports is worth a watch and you could ask the question how this was only 1-1, with some inspired goal keeping and shocking misses. As with what will become a theme throughout the reports, Deniss Rakels gets a favourable mention. Sky focus on the misses and say both teams missed opportunities to win the game.
Down at the BBC, they call it an open game and quote McDermott, saying that Reading wanted to come away with a positive result, which probably explains some conservative substitutions.
Rakels also makes headlines on the Guardians Sports Photo of the Day, whilst the Daily Star win the award for rubbish write up of the season by just having the score for us. (boo hiss boo)
Clubcall major on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's interview where he defended Seb Polter’s miss, saying that it wasn’t the easiest of chances. ESPN FC carry a mix of all the reports mentioning misses from Rakels, Chery and Polter, and also that the keepers were busy.
West London Sport say that Grant Hall continued his outstanding run for QPR this season, Rakels' finish was emphatic, and that it was a fairly even game. Their ratings are interesting with most of the team getting "average" apart from Matt Ingram who gets an 8, and Philips who gets a 5 with the phrase "low on confidence and created nothing". Ring any bells with a certain Reading player?
Charles Watts' video report at GetReading from the game is fairly positive, again highlighting Rakels and his embryonic partnership with Kermorgant which is showing signs of developing quite nicely. As he states the most important thing from this game was to come away with at least a point.
Summary
And that’s pretty much it, with two games to go in the season, finishing on a high is important and we have two winnable games left with Preston visiting the MadStad and the last game of the season away at Blackburn. Getting a point probably was the most important factor out of this game, and the big question now is will Rakels be next season’s Shane Long or Royston Drenthe?!
I will be back after the Preston game and with two games left it’s more than ever important that we go into the summer break on a high!