Royal trio open the Trap door

IRELAND’S new management team have only just got their feet under the desk in Abbotstown, but already they must be wondering why their presence was demanded in the first place.

Two of Giovanni Trapattoni’s assistants — Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady — were at the Madejski on Saturday and both would have left baffled at how Ireland could have failed so feebly in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle and Shane Long were all exceptional in engineering a precious 2-0 victory for Reading, which lifted them away from the relegation zone at the perfect time.