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Paul Jiggins at SunSport |
Reading (1) 3 Fulham (0) 3
Reading boss Brian McDermott has discovered that when you play football in a monsoon, it is always handy to have a Kanu.
The Reading manager and his players looked up the creek without a paddle as they trailed 3-2 in injury time.
But sub Hal Robson-Kanu stabbed home a last-gasp leveller to earn a point from a game that finished with four goals in 13 minutes.
McDermott said: "The one thing you can say about us is that we are never going to give up.
"I've lost count of the number of late goals we've scored here in the last three years.
"We always keep going and we could have even won this 4-3.
"But when you are 3-2 down with the seconds on the clock ticking down, you will take the point."
Reading remain in the bottom three as they search for their first Prem win of the season.
McDermott said: "It's only natural the talk will be about that first win.
"We need to forget the win and concentrate on playing the game.
"If we do that, the wins will come, I'm sure of it."
Mikele Leigertwood opened the scoring for Reading with a 26th-minute screamer after Jobi McAnuff teed him up just outside the box.
It was his first goal since wife Lizandra gave birth to their second son Cameron last month - and his first top-flight goal since he scored for Crystal Palace in their 3-0 win over Fulham boss Martin Jol's former Tottenham team EIGHT YEARS ago.
Hugo Rodallega wasted a great chance to level for Fulham when he headed Kieran Richardson's cross straight at Alex McCarthy before the break.
But it was all square in the 61st minute after Bryan Ruiz's spectacular strike.
The Costa Rican sub had been on pitch for less than three minutes when he played a one-two with Damien Duff before smacking a 25-yarder in off the bar.
Now Fulham were in the ascendancy and it was no surprise when Chris Baird headed them 2-1 up in the 77th minute.
Unfortunately for the Northern Ireland star, as he wheeled away in delight he slipped on the perimeter track and had to go off injured.
But the visitors lead lasted just eight minutes as Gareth McCleary slotted home Adam Le Fondre's cross to make it 2-2.
Royals fans had their celebrations cut short when Dimitar Berbatov - who needed a painkilling injection in a cracked rib during the break - steered in what most thought would be the winner three minutes later.
But boss McDermott's men refused to throw in the towel and were rewarded when Robson-Kanu bundled the ball into the net after Nicky Shorey's free-kick had caused chaos.
Jol said: "We started off brightly and had a lot of possession, but there was no purpose to our game.
"We caused problems for ourselves by losing the ball.
"But the second half was a different story.
We did exactly what we wanted.
We passed the ball well, had great movement and scored three goals - and when you score three goals at Reading you expect to win.
"Maybe we need to stop giving away free-kicks."
Reading: McCarthy, Cummings, Gorkss, Mariappa, Shorey, Pogrebnyak (Le Fondre 80), Tabb (McCleary 69), Leigertwood, Kebe (Robson-Kanu 78), McAnuff, Roberts.
Subs Not Used: Federici, Gunter, Pearce, Hunt.
Booked: Cummings.
Goals: Leigertwood 26, McCleary 85, Robson-Kanu 90.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise, Duff (Dejagah 67), Baird (Sidwell 80), Diarra, Richardson, Rodallega (Ruiz 58), Berbatov.
Subs Not Used: Stockdale, Senderos, Petric, Karagounis.
Booked: Baird.
Goals: Ruiz 61, Baird 77, Berbatov 88.
Att: 24,093.
Ref: Mike Jones (Cheshire).
Source .