Reading vs. Arsenal

4-4 ( 7-5 after extra-time), Capital One Cup, Madejski Stadium, 2012-10-30
Walcott 45, 90 + 4, 120
Giroud 64,
Koscielny 89,
Chamakh 103, 120

What an absolutely magic turnaround this turned out to be! We found ourselves 4-0 down in the first half and some of the away fans were spotted leaving the stadium before the first half was even finished, thankfully they will have regretted that rather severely!

Our defence was poor during the first half, Koscielny had a overall poor game (e.g. scored an own goal) and young goalkeeper Martinez did not show dazzling skills either, but somehow we managed to turn it all around as well as improve the defence for the rest of the game. Just before the half-time whistle Theo Walcott pulled one back for us as he was released down the centre, his cheeky lob was the epithet of cool, calm and collected.

As mentioned, we seriously upped our game in the second half (which might not have been the most difficult achievement considering how poor we were in the first) and with an improvement in our play came the goals. The introduction of Olivier Giroud proved to be the deciding factor in this game, he was absolutely brilliant and his exquisite header right after coming on truly meant that we were back in the game! However, we were almost out of the game again before the next goal came, Laurent Koscielny got to redeem his earlier own-goal when he battled the ball into the back of the net just before the added time. The game appeared to be over as there were only four added minutes and they were all but over when Theo Walcott popped up and produced an amazing strike to bring the game into extra-time! Truly mind-blowing, even magical, stuff from the Arsenal this night!

Yet the magic was far from over, in the extra-time the most unlikely of players almost won us the game, none other than Marouane Chamakh! He has more or less been forgotten as an attacking-force of late, but his shot was stunning in its precision! Tensions ran high as Reading made it 5-5 soon after, yet this was always meant to be an amazing comeback for us. He scored right at the end of the first half, he scored right at the end of the second half and he scored right at the end of the extra-time. Theo Walcott had a hat-trick of unbelievable standards in this game completed by this late, emphatic, finish! However, he did not have the last say in this game as Marouane Chamakh showed composure to make it 7-5!

This is a cup game that will go down in history! An extraordinary game !!