CAHILL CONFIDENT

Posted on: Sun 26 Aug 2012

Gary Cahill, scorer of Chelsea's equaliser against Reading, believed the team would go on to win the game once he had netted that second goal.

It looked to be plain sailing in the early stages against the newly promoted side with a goal advantage thanks to Frank Lampard's penalty and possession being dominated, but Reading came back strongly and it was not until 69 minutes that Cahill's long-range strike brought the teams level.

'It certainly felt as if we were pushing hard and creating and there were some great individual performances so I felt it was coming,' said the England centre-back after the game.

'But you keep looking at the clock and time is ticking so it was great I managed to get the equaliser and I was confident we were going to go on from there.

'The first 10 to 15 minutes we dominated and it was disappointing that the game was turned on its head and we went 2-1 down, but the character we have in the squad meant I hoped it was a matter of time before we got back in front.

'Great credit to Reading, they were direct at times, worked hard and played some good stuff and made it hard for us, but it was nothing we weren't expecting.'

Cahill praised the quality of the cross and then the header from Pavel Pogrebnyak that brought Reading level but admitted he should have been closer to the Russian centre-forward. He was therefore especially happy to atone with his goal, even if it was aided by a mistake from Reading keeper Adam Federici.

'I thought maybe he was going to push it round but it just pitched before him so it was difficult and thankfully it made its way in,' says Cahill, whose goal was followed by strikes from Fernando Torres and Branislav Ivanovic.

'It is fantastic for Fernando because he has two goals now and is up and running. He has started the season well with goals and long may it continue, and our right-back has popped up with two goals this season too!

'I also thought Eden Hazard was fantastic, really special. He did well against Wigan and I thought against Reading he was amazing.'