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Hunt spoils Sanchez debut
READING, England (AFP) - Stephen Hunt scored the winner in Reading's 1-0 victory over Fulham here on Saturday giving Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez a losing debut.
Fulham manager Chris Coleman was sacked in midweek and now Sanchez, at the helm till the end of the season, has the task of making sure the London club avoids relegation.
As Northern Ireland manager, Sanchez had good results against Sven-Goran Eriksson's England and Spain however Reading, still on course for a place in Europe, proved too much for his new side.
Sanchez is a Reading old boy and then went on to play for Wimbledon, scoring the winning goal in the 1988 FA Cup final in a 1-0 victory against overwhelming favourites Liverpool.
His tenure at Craven Cottage is for only five Premiership games and it will have been noted that chances not taken and poor organisation at the back were reasons for being on the losing side.
Hunt scored the winner on 15 minutes from close in after an accurate cross from Kevin Doyle on the right.
Reading were trying hard to make the most of Fulham's weakness on their left-hand side. Franck Queudrue lost possession to Reading's Seol Ki-Hyeon who fed Brynjar Gunnarsson and his shot was tipped over the bar by Fulham keeper Antti Niemi.
Hunt, having a great first half, kept Niemi on his toes with two more volleyed attempts which went wide on each occasion. Reading even had a minor penalty appeal when Michael Brown looked as though he might have handled in the area.
Seol fired the ball over the bar shortly after the break and Fulham had another penalty appeal when Wayne Routledge hit the deck in the area but the visitors were generally having a hard time breaking down the hosts.
Late on Doyle found the net but the score was ruled out for offside and Fulham's Brown hit the bar in injury time.
Info
Goals
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S. Hunt 15'
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1 - 0 |
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