Kelly Chambers’ Reading side caused something of an upset on Sunday as they held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at The Madejski Stadium.
Amalie Eikeland’s early goal gave The Royals the lead before Sam Mewis levelled matters for Manchester City in the second half.
One of the players who impressed for the hosts was goalkeeper Grace Moloney who is currently in good form. FA Women’s Super League Full-Time have compared the goalkeeper statistics from the game to see how Moloney matched up to opposite number Ellie Roebuck.
As you would expect, the Reading keeper was tested on more occasions than Roebuck throughout the 90 minutes. While both keepers were beaten once, Moloney produced six saves compared to Roebuck’s one resulting in the Reading keeper coming out of the match with a 0.357% better save percentage than her opposite number. Pre-match data suggested that Moloney would concede an average of 1.8 goals in the game compared to Roebuck’s expected figure of 0.9%. As the action unfolded, the Reading keeper beat her expected average whilst Roebuck exceeded.
Long ball distribution was where Roebuck really came out on top. The Manchester City keeper succeeded in 62.5% of her distributions over 40 yards whereas Moloney completed just 18.8% of her long ball distributions, an area in need of improvement for the Reading number one. Moloney’s average ball distribution distance (35.3 yards) was greater than Roebuck’s average distance of (27.4 yards). The Reading keeper opted to send 37.4% of her passes over 40 yards whereas just 28.6% of Roebuck’s passes travelled a similar distance.
The goal kick statistics are difficult to compare. Reading keeper Moloney took 16 goal kicks with just 18.8% being hit more than 40 yards, her average kick length being 27.1 yards. Roebuck just took the one goal kick, hitting the ball 25 yards.
In terms of attempted crosses, neither keeper took the ball from 13 combined deliveries while Moloney played closer to her goal-line throughout the 90 minutes with her average distance from goal being 10.5 yards compared to Roebuck’s average sweeper distance of 18.9 yards, maybe a reflection of Manchester City’s overall superior possession and attacking impetus.
In summary, given the differences in goalmouth action at either end of the pitch it is difficult to compare the performances of Moloney and Roebuck. It is fair to say that the Reading keeper excelled in her shot stopping and in terms of beating her expected goals conceded average. The main area in which Moloney could improve in future games is her long ball distribution.
It was a deserved point for Reading at The Madejski Stadium and it won’t be the last that Moloney and her colleagues collect from one of the top sides in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League this season.