Royals fight back for a point

Ian Harte was at the centre of the action as the Royals drew 1-1 with Hull at the Madejski Stadium. After an uneventful first half, Harte failed to deal with a left wing cross and Corry Evans scored but he made up for it when he converted a late penalty after Shane Long was fouled.

With Matt Mills fit again, Ivar Ingimarsson dropped down to the bench and he was joined by Mathieu Manset following his arrival from Hereford. Simon Church started with Noel Hunt ruled out through injury.

The main talking point of an uninspiring first half was a penalty shout after Jimmy Kebe broke into the area and was clearly fouled by Andy Dawson. The referee ignored the appeals and the closest we went to scoring in the half was a Shane Long header that was saved by Brad Guzan.

The second half the Ian Harte story. Firstly he gifted Hull the opening goal, from a cross from Robert Koren on their left, after he tried to play the ball back to Federici. It was no where near the Royals keeper and half time sub Corry Evans popped into score from close range.

The equaliser arrived in the 80th minute and it was after the introduction of Manset from the bench. Hal Robson Kanu had also come on and that allowed Jobi McAnuff to move into the centre, and his ball sent Long away but he was brought down by Guzan.

After struggling with a knock all week, and missing his last kick against Hull in December, Ian Harte took over spot kick duties and he didn`t disappoint smashing the ball into the roof of the net. It was the equalising goal and no more than we had deserve and we probably edged it in truth.

That maintains our unbeaten run though and now we can forget about the league for a week and concentrate on the FA cup trip to Stevenage next Saturday.

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