Americans Abroad

Hahnemann, Convey continue to lead way for Reading in League Championship.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
and Gary Davidson (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Tuesday, November 1, 2005) -- United States goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann posted his 10th league shutout of the season and his American teammate, midfielder Bobby Convey was dangerous all evening, leading Reading to a 2-0 victory over visiting Sheffield Wednesday tonight in the second-division English League Championship at Madejski Stadium.

Hahnemann made a save on Wednesday's American defender Frankie Simek, leading to a sequence in which Reading took a 1-0 advantage on an own goal in the 38th minute. Kevin Doyle played the ball to Dave Kitson whose shot from close range caromed off Wednesday defender Glenn Whelan into the net.

Hahnemann made his best save on Gabriel Agbonlahor early in the second half.

In the fifth minute, Convey sent a cross to the head of Dave Kitson, but goalkeeper David Lucas made a fine save to parry the shot away.

Convey was also dangerous throughout the match with his set pieces and just before the end of the first half his free kick from just outside the penalty area went narrowly wide. Shortly after intermission, Convey hit a post with midfielder Glen Little's rebound attempt cleared off the goal-line by Sheffield's Scottish international striker Lee Peacock.

Convey was replaced by Stephen Hunt in the 72nd minute. Simek went the distance for Wednesday (3-6-7, 16).

Hahnemann and Convey also stood out for Reading in its 1-1 home draw with Leeds United in a match between club's with title aspirations.

Leeds received a strong performance from U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis.

In a game where Hahnemann and his counterpart, Leeds keeper Neil Sullivan, made terrific stops, Reading's Brynjar Gunnarsson put the home team ahead 1-0 in the 63rd minute when Convey's corner kick was poorly cleared and he knocked home the loose ball.

David Healy drew Leeds level at 1-1 in the 75th minute when his hard low shot from the right top of the box beat Hahnemann to the left corner.

Lewis was especially impressive for Leeds in the early going. He was brought down by Gunnarsson outside the box and Hahnemann made a good save on Robbie Blake's ensuing free kick.

Convey had good chances late in the first half and at the start of the second, but Sullivan saved both.

Hahnemann came up big on Jonathon Douglas in stoppage time. Convey came out in the 87th minute, while Lewis was replaced in the 90th.

Second-place Reading (10-1-5, 35 points) kept pace with league-leading Sheffield (12-2-2, 38) which drew 0-0 with Cardiff Saturday and blanked Luton 4-0 today, both at home.

After losing today 1-0 to host Crewe on an own goal in the eighth minute, Leeds (7-5-3, 26) is in fifth place, but holds a game in hand on Watford (8-4-5, 29) and Luton (8-5-4, 28).

Lewis played 90 minutes for Leeds against Crewe and thought he had drawn a penalty kick when he went down on a challenge in the box from Darren Moss in the 47th minute, but the referee instead awarded Lewis a yellow card for diving.

Simek also went the whole way and earned a yellow card for unsportsmanlike behavior in the 11th minute for Sheffield Wednesday which took a 1-0 road decision from Norwich Saturday.

Last Tuesday, Reading used a pair of goals from Kitson to eliminate Sheffield United 2-0 in the third round of the Carling Cup. Reading will travel to Arsenal November 29 next in the Cup.

Both sides played numbers of reserves and neither Hahnemann nor Convey were dressed. Graham Stack was in goal for Reading.

Leeds was bounced from the same competition 3-0 by the Premier League's Blackburn Rovers who had American Brad Friedel in goal.

The match was scoreless until the 60th minute -- with Friedel having little to do -- before Brett Emerton gave Rovers a 1-0 lead. Here too, both sides rested a number of starters and Lewis joined the fray for Leeds in the 72nd minute with the deficit still at one. However, Leeds seemed to tire and two late Rovers goals put the match out of reach.

Visiting Watford also was eliminated from the Cup 3-0 last Tuesday by the Premier League's Wigan which scored all three goals in the 30 minutes of extra time. American defender Jay DeMerit logged the whole 120 minutes.

Watford, which combined with Luton's loss, climbed into third place tonight by defeating visiting Queens Park Rangers 3-1 with DeMerit going the distance.

Demerit scored the opening goal during a 90-minute performance in a 3-1 home victory over Wolverhampton Saturday.

Wolves dominated the first half, creating chances, but Watford keeper Ben Foster kept the match scoreless with an outstanding effort. The second half was a completely different story.

First, DeMerit rose above the Wolves defense to head home a tally in the 69th minute with goals from Marlon King and Paul Devlin following in the next 11 minutes.

Wolves received a consolation goal by Ki-Hyeon Seol, moments before DeMerit, clearly enjoying his return to the first team, left the field to chants of "USA! USA!"

Twenty-year-old New Jersey-born striker Jemal Johnson was quickly moved into Preston North End's starting lineup Saturday less than 48 hours after arriving on a 30-day loan from Blackburn where he has been playing on the reserve side. He played 60 minutes in North End's 0-0 draw with Leicester, receiving a yellow card in the 11th minute.

Johnson also went the first 78 minutes today -- replaced by Dave Hibbert -- in North End's 3-0 triumph over visiting Hull (4-7-6, 18). North End is in 12th place at 4-4-9 with 21 points.

Seb Orton contributed to this story from Watford, England.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent. E-mail Robert Wagman. Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor. E-mail Gary Davidson.