Owen Back - Reading For UEFA Cup
Newcastle's England Striker Returns but Kitson Heads for Europe
Michael Owen played his first game of the season for Newcastle against Reading who are closing in on next year's UEFA Cup after their first ever season in the Premiership
Michael Owen returned to football for the first time since sustaining a serious injury playing for England during last summer’s World Cup competition in Germany. His appearance for Newcastle against Reading at the Madejski Stadium is encouraging news for the England manager,Steve McLaren, who will be hoping that he can prove his fitness and return to form ahead of England’s European Championship game against Estonia in June.
If he is able to play in Newcastle’s final two games of the season, he is bound to be recalled to the England squad for their friendly at Wembley against Brazil. This will give the England manager an opportunity to assess his fitness at close quarters with a view to including him in the team for the Estonia game. England’s inability to score goals is a major problem for McLaren and a fit Owen would give the manager so many more options.
While England will be hoping that Owen makes speedy progress in his return to fitness, his club will be more concerned that he is not rushed back too quickly. Newcastle feel aggrieved that they have had to play without their star striker for almost the entire season and are not pleased that the Football Association have failed to agreed a suitable compensation package with the club for their loss.
Starting his first competitive game of the season, Michael Owen had a quiet match. The minute by minute break down of the game indicates that he was caught off-side twice and committed one foul in the first half. In a poor Newcastle performance he played the full ninety minutes but received very little service and was unable to make it a fairytale return by getting on the score sheet.
The game was the tale of two strikers who have missed much of the season through injury. The Reading version was Dave Kitson who was making his one hundredth appearance for the club and by scoring his fiftieth goal he ensured Reading took the three points to move back into one of the UEFA Cup places. The win moved Reading above Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth into seventh place in the Premiership.
It has been a remarkable season for Reading under manager, Steve Coppell. In their first ever season in the top flight of English football he has managed to take the club with limited resources to the verge of European football.
