Cereal champ aims to bowl over Latics

James Walker-Roberts • Published 23 Nov 2012 06:30 0 Comments

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SEAN Morrison has already become something of a cult hero after revealing his personal mission is to discover the best breakfast cereal on the market.

But the burly centre-back's real motivation in football is to become a Royals hero in defence.

Reading's first season back in the Premier League may not have started quite as planned, with Brian McDermott's men beating Everton on Saturday to pick up their first win at the 11th time of asking.

However, the emergence of 21-year-old Morrison as a star of the future has been one of the biggest stories of the rocky journey so far.

Undamaged by a nightmare debut in the 7-5 Capital One Cup defeat by Arsenal last month, Morrison retained his place in the team and helped Royals take five points from the next three games, including a first clean sheet of the season in the goalless draw with Norwich City.

And the impressive manner in which he kept Everton talisman Marouane Fellaini quiet at the Madejski Stadium last weekend strengthened the feeling that Royals may face a battle to keep hold of their likeable defender in the future.

For Morrison, though, merely playing regularly in Reading's first-team is satisfying enough, with another start on the cards in tomorrow's crunch clash with Wigan Athletic at DW Stadium (3pm ko).

The former Swindon Town player admitted: "Even up to a month ago, I wasn't involved at Liverpool and now to be starting in the Premier League is a dream come true.

"I've waited a long time. The manager said he wanted to keep me around and be a part of the squad and if nothing came of it I could go out on loan in the New Year.

"But, thankfully, I have my opportunity so I hope now I can keep it. It's nice to get a cheer from the crowd and hear them sing my name."

Morrison, who helped Huddersfield win promotion to the Championship on loan last season, has been outstanding alongside Kaspars Gorkss and is currently keeping last season's Player of the Year Alex Pearce plus Adrian Mariappa out of the starting line-up.

He and his team-mates now face a massive challenge over the next week with tomorrow's trip to Wigan followed by Tuesday night's televised game at Aston Villa (8pm ko, live Sky Sports).

"The only way we're going to stay up in this league is if we're solid throughout the team and at the back and keep as many clean sheets as possible," argued Morrison.

"It was all about three points against Everton. We conceded a sloppy goal but in the second half we took the game to them, we were fantastic.

"There was a point in the first half when I couldn't breathe because we were under so much pressure. The gaffer spoke to us and we reacted brilliantly, We just have to build on that at Wigan and Villa now."

No doubt Morrison will be tucking into one of his favourite cereals over the weekend.

His mission - dubbed 'Cereal Quest' - has become a massive hit on Twitter, and he explained: "Cereal Quest started on Monday. I eat a lot of cereal and that's what I snack on when I go home. I want to be a connoisseur.

"My typical choice is Golden Grahams or Golden Nuggets - anything golden. But I'm not looking forward to the mueslis and the big Shredded Wheat - I'm not a fan of that, never was."

++ A NUMBER of Royals' first-team players will be making an appearance at the club shop in Reading's Oracle shopping centre next Thursday (November 29).

They will be dropping in between 4-5pm to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

They will also be signing copies of the new Royals 2013 calendar which is out now.

The shop is located in the Lower Mall near the Holy Brook entrance ++

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