Reading 2-2

Independent:

Rafa Benitez left bemused by Adam Le Fondre's late larceny
Reading 2 Chelsea 2

Kevin Garside the Madejski Stadium

“I bet that's changed a few headlines. eh?” The words of a laughing Brian McDermott after his Reading team had erased a deficit that stood at two with 87 minutes on the clock. It might also have accelerated the demise of his opposite number at Chelsea, the unloved Rafa Benitez, who also offered a smile, one of bewilderment. It was either that or cry.

If a crisis meeting was deemed necessary after the scratchy FA Cup draw at Brentford, what next for Benitez after arguably the most bizarre result of his 20 match-reign? Chelsea were coasting to victory here after goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard. Reading offered nothing until the last orders were rung. McDermott admitted afterwards that his principal concern at the start of the game was to avoid embarrassment against the European champions.

McDermott might want to give derring do a go next time. The bench is certainly no place for Adam Le Fondre, who for the third successive league game earned rewards following his late introduction. That's 12 goals for the season, six of those as a substitute and five in the last three matches. Benitez can count himself lucky that Le Fondre was on the pitch for only 24 minutes.

"It's difficult to explain," Benitez said. "We are as surprised as you, controlling game for 85 minutes. We had chances to kill the game. The team did a perfect job for 85 minutes. They had their first shot after 78 minutes. We all have to take responsibility. These little things make the difference."

Benitez seeks succour in the technical details, utterly failing to recognise the negative emotions associated with his posting at Stamford Bridge. In this state of denial he proceeds towards his own execution. "We are still in a good position in the table but it could have been better. The team is improving. For 85 minutes we were really good. We just made mistakes. At this level they know they have to be more clinical. We win together, we draw together."

McDermott got lucky here, and accepted as much. "We are trying to stay in games. What I have learned is if you open up in a game in this division then you get beat. We have not played particularly well today but we have got something. If you have Le Fondre coming off the bench you know you have a chance.

"We got a draw with the champions of Europe from being two down with three minutes to play. It's about our players tonight."

Eventually. A neat strike from Mata with the final kick of the first half and a smart header from Lampard looked to have claimed the easiest three points of Chelsea's season. A fixture that should have generated the tension ordinarily associated with teams battling for survival had none, until Le Fondre's late intervention. The Madejski came alight for the first time in the match after his opening strike, planted left-footed beneath Ross Turnbull, hinting at what might have been had McDermott the courage to take the fight to Chelsea at the outset.

Benitez endeared himself to the Chelsea support further with the omission from the starting line-up of the team's heartbeat, John Terry, and new talisman Demba Ba. It is hard to imagine that captain, leader, legend voted for that during the meeting with Benitez and Lampard, despite concerns about his fitness. The selection of Fernando Torres over Ba bore even less scrutiny.

The first real opening took 40 minutes to fashion. It fell to Torres, who swung wildly at the ball with his right boot. The outcome was both sad and comic, the ball travelling parallel to the goal as it flew away from the target. It is clear that Torres can never be the player he was at Anfield. The most he can hope is to run around like a journeyman linking the play as best he can.

As fate would have it, he played that very role as Chelsea stole the lead in the last attack of the opening half. Lifting the ball cleverly over the defender's head, Torres picked out Mata as he advanced toward goal. There was plenty to do to accommodate body and ball, but he managed it with a drilled left-foot volley on the turn from close range.

In the second half a typical Lampard break saw him feed the ball through to Oscar, who pulled the ball square in the direction of Torres. A peak Torres would have been halfway to the halfway line in celebration before the defender could respond. This version didn't even get his toe to the ball and Ian Harte cleared.

Not to worry, there is always Lampard. A Mata corner was met by Lampard with typical elan, steering the ball high into the net to double Chelsea's lead. That seemed to be that until Le Fondre joined the party. His first was clinical, the second equally so sidefooting the ball coolly past Turnbull, exposed by a hapless Chelsea defence.

Man of the match Le Fondre.

Match rating 7/10.

Referee M Halsey (Hertfordshire).

Attendance 24,097.

==============

Guardian:

Reading's Adam Le Fondre hits late double to stun Chelsea

Dominic Fifield at Madejski Stadium

There is to be no respite in Chelsea's tumultuous season. Even games that seem to have been won with ease against relegation-threatened opponents are being wrested from the European champions, the sense of farce that is building leaving the interim first-team manager, Rafael Benítez, alone and increasingly exposed amid the maelstrom. Indignity is being delivered on a match-by-match basis at present.
The club's hierarchy watched on in disbelief from the directors' box here, Bruce Buck, Ron Gourlay and Michael Emenalo blanching as the visitors caved in to the only two shots of any potency mustered by Reading on the Chelsea goal. That suited trio of chairman, chief executive and technical director have the ominous look of a firing squad about them, as so many previous incumbents have discovered to their cost, and they were grim-faced as they exited amid the locals' giddy delirium on the final whistle. Benítez's position is apparently not under immediate threat, with his side still five points clear of fifth, but this was unacceptable.
It was also unexpected. Reading may have come back to score three times in the last eight minutes to beat West Bromwich Albion, but they had looked spent here against a Chelsea side who eased into a two-goal advantage without breaking into a sweat. They were professional rather than spectacular but the hosts were still kept at arm's length until three minutes from time. And then, from a position of complete authority, they disintegrated. Reading's first goal was neatly constructed, the substitute Hope Akpan clipping a neat pass inside Gary Cahill for Adam le Fondre, free of Branislav Ivanovic, to dispatch first time inside Ross Turnbull's near post.
Even that should only have been a mild inconvenience, but Chelsea's composure had drained. By the fifth minute of stoppage time, Le Fondre – new to the Premier League but whose reputation as a goal poacher is already well established – was one of three unmarked players at the far post as Adam Federici's free-kick prompted panic. Ivanovic and Cahill allowed the ball to bounce, Jimmy Kébé headed across goal and Akpan flicked on, and there was Le Fondre to volley back and across Turnbull to equalise. Such sloppiness will eat away at Benítez. "Everybody had the same feeling in the dressing-room," said the Spaniard. "Everyone could see the game was under control for us until the last minute. Really disappointing."
It says much when 87 minutes of dominance against a team struggling to avoid a swift return to the Championship yields only a point. Benítez pointed to their dominance – and they were so assured – as reason for optimism, and even suggested he could not be angry with his players for their late capitulation given how superior they had been. "If you play bad and draw, you can say it's a problem," he said. "But when you play so well, and have the chances we had … we did a good job, a great game, but we have to manage these little mistakes. We need to get the result we deserve."
But, for all that it is only 10 days since they beat Arsenal, their current form has served up draws with Swansea and Brentford prior to this. A fortnight previously they had led Southampton, another of the strugglers, by two at home and only drawn. The hierarchy, via Emenalo, may have impressed upon Benítez the need to finish in the top four and the manager is still on course to achieve just that, but it felt inexcusable not to have squeezed closer to Manchester City in second place once Juan Mata's fine finish from Fernando Torres's perfectly conjured pass had edged the visitors ahead. Add to that Frank Lampard's 196th goal for the club, thumped in from a corner, and a fifth consecutive league away win was surely theirs. Perhaps the sight of Le Fondre entering the fray immediately after that goal should have heightened the Londoners' concentration. Instead, they dawdled and Reading prospered.
Brian McDermott's side are out of the relegation zone and showing glimpses of that irrepressible post-Christmas form that has propelled them upwards over the last three years. They had lost only one of their previous seven games in all competitions before this match and, even when their position felt hopeless, retained the conviction that they could eke something from the contest. "We got a draw against the champions of Europe when we were 2-0 down with three minutes to play," said McDermott, through a smile. That summed up the drama. Le Fondre now boasts five goals in his last three Premier League outings, all cameos from the bench. "He's a great bloke, funny and with good banter, and wants to be the best player in training," said the Reading manager. "Our players all have so much more to come: that hunger and desire to improve. We haven't played particularly well tonight but we got something: these guys have so much heart and desire."
They retain such energy even into the latter stages. Chelsea are not as effervescent, with this their 41st game of a morale-sapping campaign. Benítez has overseen 20 of those in a little over two months. There simply is no relief to be had at this club.


================

Telegraph:

Reading 2 Chelsea 2

By Paul Kelso, Madjeski Stadium

Chelsea’s crisis continues to make great drama. A season of permanent turmoil took another twist at the Madejski Stadium last night as Rafael Benítez’s side conspired to toss away a two-goal lead against a Reading team who spent most of the evening rehearsing relegation form.
For 87 minutes Benítez was enjoying perhaps his most comfortable evening as Chelsea manager. He had endured the usual round of abuse from the travelling fans, but would have taken comfort from a performance of craft and composure that seemed certain to deliver a fifth consecutive away league win and, perhaps, some breathing space.
Goals from Juan Mata, his 15th of the season, and Frank Lampard’s 196th in Chelsea blue put them on course for a victory that would have tightened their grip on third place, and opened a six-point gap over the chasing pack.
All that changed in the game’s last gasps as his defence choked, Reading struck, leaving Benítez and his squad to journey back up the M4 reflecting on a third consecutive draw, another backward step, and renewed discussion of the manager’s prospects.
Benítez will not have been the only one considering his future. In the stands at the Madejski, looking as shocked as everyone else, were chairman Bruce Buck, chief executive Ron Gourlay and technical director Michael Emanalo. The next dispatch to Roman Abramovich will be instructive.
The Royals’ escapologist-in-chief was once again Adam le Fondre, who continued his remarkable form from the bench with two goals in eight minutes to snatch the draw. The goals took his total to five in the past three Premier League games, all of them as a substitute and all of them pivotal in turning games in his side’s favour. Ten days ago his double sank Newcastle at St James’ Park; the previous week he scored the equaliser as Reading turned round a two-goal deficit here to defeat West Bromwich. This performance capped both.
Introduced by Brian McDermott in the 66th minute, immediately after Lampard had doubled Chelsea’s lead, Le Fondre left it 20 minutes before going to work. His first goal owed much to another substitute, Hope Akpan, a 21-year-old graduate of the Everton and Crewe academies whose only previous appearance for Reading came as a substitute at Newcastle, where he laid on the winner.
Here, moments after Adam Federici had denied Oscar scoring a third goal with a fine save, he provided the pass that for the first time all evening split the Chelsea back line. Le Fondre got himself the wrong side of Branislav Ivanovic, stayed just onside and ­powered a left-foot shot first time inside Ross Turnbull’s near post.
The goal brought the stadium to life, but there was still little excuse for the yips that seized Chelsea in the final minute of added time. With the last attack of the game Federici punted a free-kick forward, and somehow Ivanovic and Gary Cahill missed their headers. The bouncing ball was nodded across the Chelsea box by Jimmy Kebe where Le Fondre cushioned a side-foot volley into the roof of the net and sent the home fans that remained into raptures.
The smile that split Le Fondre’s face contained as much disbelief as joy, and his manager could barely contain his. The win vaulted Reading over Aston Villa and Wigan and out of the relegation places and could prove hugely significant.
Defeat would have left Reading just three points ahead of bottom-club Queens Park Rangers, whose squad get stronger by the hour. Harry Redknapp’s side now lie four back, and this result will fuel McDeromtt’s optimism that Reading can stay up.
Having made a habit of stirring comebacks they began as if the intention was to avoid having to mount a similar rearguard action, with five men strung across midfield and lone striker Pavel Pogrebnyak.
It made for a game as congested as the M4 outside the ground but Chelsea, showing the patience and craft of European champions, kept working and were eventually rewarded.
The breakthrough came from Mata, who scored in first-half injury time after a one-two with Fernando Torres. With Plan A exposed, Reading had to be more positive but it left them exposed. They escaped narrowly once when Ian Harte denied Torres three yards out but respite was brief.
From the corner Lampard thumped home a header, prompting a round of “Sign him up!” from the fans who remain devoted, even if Abramovich is not. Those supporters will be preparing a less pleasant response for their next encounter with their manager. The drama is not done yet.

Team details

Reading: Federici; Harte, Pearce, Mariappa, Kelly; Leigertwood; McAnuff (Le Fondre 66), Guthrie (McCleary 58), Karacan (Akpan 77), Kebe; Pogrebnyak. Goals: Le Fondre 87, 90.
Subs: Taylor, Shorey, Morrison, Akpan, Robson-Kanu, McCleary, Le Fondre.

Chelsea: Turnbull, Azpilicueta, Cole, Cahill, Ivanovic; Ramires, Lampard (C); Oscar, Mata (Benayoun 77), Bertrand, Torres.
Subs: Hilario, Ferreira, Terry, Marin, Benayoun, Ake, Ba. Goals: Mata 45, Lampard 66.

=================

Mail:

Reading 2 Chelsea 2: Sub Le Fondre hits two in final five minutes to rock Rafa

By Neil Ashton

High up in the stands at the Madejski  Stadium, Chelsea’s firing squad were shaking their heads in disbelief.
On the field Adam Le Fondre was soaking it all up after rescuing Reading with another remarkable contribution after coming on as a substitute.
Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck, technical director Michael Emenalo and chief executive Ron Gourlay were all present to witness their team wobble like jelly in the final minutes. The legs have gone in this Chelsea team, shot to bits as they limp from one fixture to the next.

By the time Le Fondre came on as a 67th minute substitute for Jobi McAnuff, Chelsea had only just  finished celebrating Frank  Lampard’s 196th goal.
By the time they walked off the field there were haunted looks, vacant expressions among the  players after Le Fondre scored twice in the final minutes.
There will be twitches at Chelsea’s training ground this morning, with fear sweeping the corridors of power as the big men prepare for another brutal analysis. Buck, Gourlay and Emenalo always turn up at matches together when the going gets tough. For a club of Chelsea’s standing — the fifth  biggest club in Europe in terms of revenue — this is as bad as it gets.
Really bad.
That heavyweight trio all report back to owner Roman Abramovich independently and naturally there are some serious misgivings about the managerial performance of Rafa Benitez. No-one could argue about that.

The rot has set in and Le Fondre made sure of it after securing one of the most unlikeliest points in the history of the Barclays Premier League.
They were two down and on the verge of their 13th defeat in the top flight when Le Fondre delivered a masterclass in finishing.
Chelsea’s fans were rubbing it in after Juan Mata’s sparkling  performance put them on course for a fifth successive away league win.
 
By the time Le Fondre scored Reading’s equaliser, 94 minutes and seven seconds into this game, it was back to the bad old days.
Benitez was getting it again as they made their way out of the  stadium and Chelsea’s boardroom contingent would have been of much the same opinion, minus the bad language.
This is critical point for Benitez. It was embarrassing, revisiting Sunday’s shocking show in the FA Cup at Brentford with their failure to clear the ball in times of distress. They had done the hard yards, securing a two goal advantage thanks to the mastery of Mata.

He sparkled, latching on to Fernando Torres’ lofted pass over the Reading defence to score Chelsea’s opening goal.

It was a terrific move, a throwback to the good times when Chelsea used to carve teams open with their attacking thrust.
The players are there, particularly with the ability of Mata and Oscar. Mata, back in the starting line-up after he was rested at Griffin Park in the Cup, was also the architect of Chelsea’s second.

His outswinging corner met the head of Lampard and Chelsea’s stand-in skipper is now within six goals of Bobby Tambling after  powering his header past Adam Federici. They should have been home and hosed. Instead there is another inquest after Le  Fondre’s intervention.

Brian McDermott’s side are beginning to believe they can escape the drop. Le Fondre has scored five in his last three league games, establishing a reputation as a super-sub with crucial strikes.
McDermott said: ‘I speak to Adam as much as I can. I’d like to start him in matches, but we are trying to find a way of getting results. We are trying to find the solutions, but the boy’s happy and the team’s happy because of the past few results.

‘I’m pleased for him, but it’s  difficult to pick the team at the moment. He trains like he wants to be the best and he’s getting better all the time.’
His finishes were of the highest order, reading the pass of Hope Akpan to flash a left-footed effort beyond keeper Ross Turnbull.

Even then Chelsea should have had enough to see this out, relying on players such as Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic to shepherd them towards three points.

Instead they blew it, shutting down as Reading threw bodies into the box for one last effort.
By the time Akpan’s looping header made its way across the area, Reading had a queue of players waiting to beat Turnbull at the far post.
Inevitably it was that man Le Fondre who made the move for a stunning equaliser, taking full responsibility for Reading’s revival.

=============

Mirror:

Reading 2-2 Chelsea

Stunned! Rafa admits Chelsea players were shocked by their own late collapse against Reading

By Martin Lipton


Le Fondre was the hero again, cancelling out Mata and Lampard's openers

Stunned Rafa Benitez revealed his players were left as shocked as he was by the late collapse that put his teetering reign under further pressure.
Chelsea were in complete control when Frank Lampard rose to power home the outstanding Juan Mata's corner on 66 minutes.
Mata had earlier put the Blues in front with his 15th of the season but two goals in five minutes from substitute Adam Le Fondre, including a superb stoppage time leveller, left Benitez floundering.
The Spaniard, feeling the heat after the cup woes at Swansea and Brentford, admitted: "There was a sense of disbelief - and everyone had the same feeling.
"It's difficult to explain. We were controlling the game for 85 minutes. We had done a perfect job but then we just made too many mistakes. We don't blame anyone."
Benitez may not have been playing the blame game but the despairing looks on the fans of the travelling Stamford Bridge hierarchy trio of chairman Bruce Buck, chief executive Ron Gourlay and technical director Michael Emenalo told their own story.
What made this hurt so much - and give such a huge boost to Royals chief Brian McDermott, whose side moved out of the drop zone for the first time in two months - was that the game was done and dusted on 66 minutes.
Lampard's header was the veteran midfielder's 196th Blues goal, just six short of Bobby Tambling's club record, bringing another chorus of "sign him up" by the travelling fans who had briefly stopped their baiting of Benitez.
Benitez had opted to omit skipper John Terry and Demba Ba but with Fernando Torres creating Mata's opener with a superb pass on the stroke of half-time the Spaniard appeared for some rare and wanted relief.
But Benitez was then powerless to prevent the appalling defensive sloppiness that followed as Reading, who had failed to create a single shot in the first 86 minutes, pulled off another great escape to put his interim reign under further scrutiny.
Le Fondre has become Reading's "Supersub" in recent weeks, coming off the bench to complete the stunning recovery win over West Brom and netting both goals in the comeback triumph at Newcastle.
This though, after Benitez rested the impish Mata, was arguably his greatest feat, outpacing the leaden-footed Branislav Ivanovic to thrash first time between Ross Turnbull and his near post.
Then, deep in stoppage time, Ivanovic and Gary Cahill failed to deal with Adam Federici's free-kick, Jimmy Kebe's header was helped on by Akpan and the unmarked Le Fondre exploded a volley home to ignite the Madejski.
Benitez was left to lament: "The frustration is that we could have closed the gap on Manchester City. We just needed to be more clinical and kill the game.
"We did a professional, perfect job for 85 minutes. It's difficult how to explain how we drew this game. We are disappointed but have to take responsibility. We win together. We draw together."
McDermott, whose side have now picked up 11 points from their last 18 and leapfrogged Aston Villa and Wigan, said: "Whatever happens, we haven't got fear, just belief.
"Even at two down I thought we could get something from the game. I knew Adam could make a difference off the bench and his second was ridiculous, top, top drawer."

=====================

Sun:

Reading 2 Chelsea 2

WOULD YOU ADAM 'N EVE IT? ... Le Fondre snatches an amazing point for Reading

By MARK IRWIN

ADAM LE FONDRE proved that lightning strikes THRICE to leave Rafa Benitez convinced that someone up there does not like him.
The Reading supersub came off the bench to transform his team’s fortunes for the third successive Premier League game with two stunning late goals.
Le Fondre might not warrant a place in Brian McDermott’s starting line-up but his contribution as an impact player is proving to be absolutely priceless after firing his team clear of the relegation zone.
The former Stockport and Rotherham striker, known to his team-mates as ALF, sent the Madejski into raptures with a stoppage-time equaliser just minutes after halving Chelsea’s two-goal lead. 
Three weeks ago he helped his team overturn a two-goal deficit against West Brom and seven days later scored both goals in a late 2-1 win at Newcastle.

But this cameo was the best of the lot as poor old Benitez suffered another body blow in his bid to win over his Chelsea critics.
For the Blues had been coasting to victory until Le Fondre’s 66th-minute introduction in response to Frank Lampard heading the visitors into a 2-0 lead.
It was a bitter pill for Chelsea to swallow. And it would have been even harder to stomach but for the magnificent Juan Mata.
The Spanish playmaker was at it again with his 15th goal of the season to seemingly keep the Blues clear in third place.
His latest contribution to the Save Our Rafa campaign came at the end of a first half in which Chelsea had dominated but rarely threatened.
Exchanging passes with Fernando Torres on the edge of the area, Mata ran clear of a static defence to hook a left-footed shot beyond keeper Adam Federici.
The goal arrived just minutes after Torres had seen a shot of his own go out for a throw, prompting more derision for Benitez for not starting with Demba Ba up front.
It was probably just as well that his team were up against toothless Reading side that spent most of the evening camped in their own half.
Any prospect of another comeback seemed dead and buried midway through the second half when Lampard doubled Chelsea’s lead.

Mata — who else — delivered an inch-perfect corner from the left and Lamps found enough space in the six-yard area to power in an unstoppable header.
It was his 196th goal for Chelsea and leaves him just six short of Bobby Tambling’s all-time club record.
And it prompted inevitable chants of ‘Sign him up’ from the Blues supporters frustrated that he has not been offered a new deal.
Yet those Chelsea celebrations evaporated in an instant when Le Fondre latched on to an 87th-minute through ball from fellow sub Hope Akpan to beat Ross Turnbull with a low, angled drive.
And four minutes later he was at it again, volleying in from another Akpan assist after Chelsea failed to clear Federici’s long free-kick.
For Chelsea, this was an eighth successive game unbeaten away from the toxic atmosphere of Stamford Bridge. But it sure as hell felt like a defeat.

DREAM TEAM

SUN STAR MAN — JUAN MATA (CHELSEA)

READING: Federici 6, Kelly 6, Pearce 6, Mariappa 6, Harte 6, Kebe 6, Karacan 6 (Akpan 7), Leigertwood 6, Guthrie 5 (McCleary 6), McAnuff 6 (Le Fondre 8), Pogrebnyak 5. Subs not used: Taylor, Shorey, Morrison, Robson-Kanu. Booked: McAnuff.

CHELSEA: Turnbull 6, Azpilicueta 6, Ivanovic 7, Cahill 6, Cole 6, Mata 8 (Benayoun 6), Ramires 7, Lampard 7, Oscar 7, Bertrand 6, Torres 6 (Ba 3). Subs not used: Hilario, Ferreira, Marin, Terry, Ake. Booked: Ramires, Azpilicueta.


=====================

Express:

READING 2 - CHELSEA 2: SAVIOUR LE FONDRE
By Tony Banks

GIVE this Chelsea team a hurdle right now and Rafa Benitez's side will fall over it. But, even by their recent standards, this collapse was extraordinary.

Reading Two goals up with four minutes left, Chelsea were cruising towards a fifth successive away Premier League win and all was well.
But then two goals from substitute Adam Le Fondre saved Reading a point they never looked remotely like getting throughout the previous 86 minutes.
As an implosion, it was astonishing. Benitez's task in the four months he has left as Chelsea's interim manager, as was made clear to him before this game, is to keep his team in the league's top four.
If this kind of form goes on – and this collapse followed a dismal performance at Brentford in the FA Cup on Sunday and a limp exit from the Capital One Cup at Swansea four days previously – there can be few who would confidently stake their house on that.
Owner Roman Abramovich and the hierarchy were reportedly furious with the performance at Griffin Park. When the Russian receives reports from this debacle, he will surely be apoplectic.
Goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard had set Chelsea up for one of the most comfortable wins of the season, against a team that had not mustered a shot against them up until the 75th minute. But then, the roof fell in on Chelsea.
Le Fondre has now scored five goals in his last three league games, each time after starting as a substitute.
The £300,000 former Rotherham striker arrived from the bench against West Brom at home to equalise with a penalty and then notched two after coming on at Newcastle to earn his side a win.
With Chelsea cruising, Le Fondre fastened on to fellow substitute Hope Akpen's pass to screw a shot past Ross Turnbull which looked like a mere consolation on a night when Reading had been outplayed.
But then, in the dying moments, Chelsea nervously failed to clear a high ball from goalkeeper Adam Federici and Akpen nodded down for the unmarked Le Fondre to volley home. The Madejski Stadium went berserk. Chelsea's players slumped disbelievingly to the ground.
The club stay third, but this felt like a mortal blow. Benitez has long since been dismissed as having any chance of keeping the job at the end of this season, with Jose Mourinho hovering in the background.
Had Abramovich not already sacked one manager just 12 weeks ago, Benitez would be walking on very thin ice indeed now. As it is, there is little point in removing the Spaniard now, because there is no one else to appoint.
And it had all looked so good. Seconds before half–time, Chelsea, who had been the better team throughout the opening period, finally put together a penetrating move and took the lead.
Fernando Torres cleverly scooped the ball through for Mata to slide home his 15th goal of the season.
They should have been two goals to the good when an exquisite pass from Lampard caught out the Reading defence but Oscar hooked the ball wide of the post.
Reading fans hollered for Le Fondre to be summoned from the bench. But McDermott was keeping his powder dry.
Mata was again involved in the goal that seemed to end the game as a contest. The Spaniard's corner was typically pinpoint and Lampard was all alone six yards out as he thumped his header past Federici.
Only then did Le Fondre appear and what an impact he had. Surely McDermott has to start him in Reading's next game.

==================

Star:

GRIM-FACED CHELSEA CHIEFS WATCH ADAM LE FONDRE MAKE THINGS WORSE FOR RAFA BENITEZ
Reading 2 Chelsea 2
By Adrian Kajumba

JUST when Rafa Benitez thought things were about to get better, along came supersub Adam Le Fondre to make them a whole lot worse.
Permanently under fire from the Chelsea fans who never wanted him and now under pressure from the owner who no longer wants him, ­Benitez looked to have earned some breathing space.
The Blues were 2-0 up thanks to goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard and it looked like job done.
But Le Fondre leapt off the bench to repeat his two-goal match-winning heroics last time out at Newcastle by scoring twice in quick succession to earn Reading a point.
It was a stunning fightback by Brian McDermott’s never-say-die side and resurgent Royals have now won four and drawn one of their last five games in all competitions.
They didn’t have a shot on goal until the 87th minute, but ended the night climbing out of the bottom three on goal difference.
It was a spectacular and disastrous collapse for Chelsea and was played out in front of grim-faced chairman Bruce Buck, chief executive Ron Gourlay and technical director Michael Emenalo.
Yet, all seemed to be going so well once Chelsea eventually got ­going.
Benitez must have been fearing ­another blast from the travelling ­boo-boys at half-time, like the ­poisonous one he got at Brentford in ­Sunday’s FA Cup tie.
Another unimpressive Chelsea display was summed up by a ­Fernando Torres shot that flew out for a throw-in.
But then Mata, Chelsea’s standout player, conjured up some magic to give the visitors the lead with his 15th goal of the season.
The little Spaniard laid the ball off to Torres on the edge of the box ­before bursting through the Royals ­rearguard to collect the return and fire past Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici.
It should have been 2-0 to Chelsea 10 minutes into the second half but ­Oscar hooked an acrobatic volley wide after springing the offside trap to latch on to Lampard’s ball over the top.
The same pair combined again soon after but Oscar chose to pass to Torres, rather than shoot, and Ian Harte nipped in to clear.
But from the resulting Mata corner, Lampard headed in his 196th Chelsea goal – leaving him just six short of Bobby Tambling’s long-standing club record of 202.
Oscar blew another chance with five minutes remaining when ­Federici came out on top in their one-on-one battle. And how costly that proved to be.
Le Fondre, who came on in the 66th minute, halved the deficit with three minutes to go from fellow sub Hope Akpan’s clever pass.
And with referee Mark Halsey ­preparing to blow the final whistle, ­Federici pumped one last hopeful free-kick forward and that caused chaos in the Blues box.
Jimmy Kebe and Akpan knocked the ball on and Le Fondre – one of three players ­unmarked at the back post – coolly volleyed in a dramatic added-time equaliser.
It was his fifth goal in the last three games after coming off the bench.

=============