Bristol City 0-2 Reading: A great away performance

After a frustrating defeat against Derby in the week, everyone was ready to turn their attentions towards the away game the following weekend at Bristol City. After the Ipswich win everybody knew that Reading had the quality to beat most sides in this division, but also had a bit of a wariness that they would have to work hard to keep getting those wins. The Royals had sold out their small allocation for this game, so they would be well-supported, but most people wanted to see another win on the road and build on the promising performances that we had seen this season so far.

Bristol City were formed in 1894, taking the name of Bristol South End (perhaps logically, as they are the side that represent the southern part of the city, with Rovers representing the northern half). It only took them three years to join the Southern League, where they experienced great success, with 3 2^nd-placed finishes in four seasons whilst merging with Bedminster to further their dominance. In 1901 they were elected to the Football League, joining the second division as one of only three southern teams at the time. Winning this league in 1906, they were promoted to Division One and experienced immediate success, finishing second in their first season in the top flight, before settling down to a more mid-table position and eventually getting relegated in 1911.

A brief spell in the third tier punctuated a longer spell in Division Two from then until 1924, without much success or failure. Following this, however, came a prolonged spell in the third division, with the outbreak of war in 1939 following a few seasons of promise and seemingly stunting their progress, meaning it then took until 1955 before they were once again promoted back up to the second level. Despite this, they won the Welsh Cup in the inter-war years as a Division Three club, something of a unique honour amongst English clubs! Another five year spell at this level followed before another relegation and another five years in Division Three before yet another promotion – Bristol City were becoming the original yo-yo club!

An eleven year spell in Division Two saw a number of reasonably indifferent campaigns with several mid-table finishes, but in 1976 they won promotion back to the top flight. It was only a brief spell, seeing them finish at a high of 13^th before another relegation in 1980, but they did win an Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1978 to keep the fans happy. However, the club suffered badly after this relegation, with three successive relegations taking them into the fourth tier for the first time in their history amongst a financial collapse and reformation in 1982.

Within two seasons, Terry Cooper (father of current Swindon Town manager Mark Cooper) took them back up, and by 1990 they had won another promotion back to Division Two. However, another bad spell led to yet another relegation in 1995 before they once again got promoted in 1998, but this time for a single campaign (no prizes for realising they had yet another relegation in 1999). Gary Johnson, in 2007, joined a long list of managers who had taken City up when he got them promoted to the Championship, but perhaps unsurprisingly this was still not a long spell, with another relegation taking them in to League One in 2013.

A very difficult first season back in the third tier saw Sean O’Driscoll sacked after the club were 22^nd after nearly half the season, with Steve Cotterill pulling off an escape to pull the club clear. The following season the former Forest manager carried off a great season, with a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win accompanying the league title and taking them back to the Championship. This season has seen a reasonably tricky start, with a number of poor results seeing them towards the foot of the table, but Cotterill has persisted with keeping a very small tight-knit squad together who may pull together and still pull them clear before the end of the season.

Ashton Gate is in the process of being re-built, with the traditional away end having been knocked down and rebuilt as a new home stand, and the visiting fans put in the corner of the Atyeo Stand. As a result, I was able to see the flats used as Nelson Mandela House from Only Fools and Horses from my seat, which was an unexpected bonus! The side to the left of me has been partially rebuilt too, with the bottom tier also reconstructed, and the other main stand has now been knocked down and in the process of being built up as a modern structure. Because of this the stadium has a strange feel about it, but on the plus side was full and generated a decent atmosphere.

Reading travelled down to Bristol on the back of the defeat to Derby, but with the start we had it would have been hard to tell we found it difficult during the week just gone. Amongst a flurry of chances was a 9^th minute opener from our new talisman Nick Blackman (which had a suspicion of offside according to the home crowd, although I didn’t notice it!) and a second goal from Garath McCleary from long range just four minutes later to finish the game off. The Royals carried on pushing forward and exploiting space, but ultimately they were unable to get any more goals. On the plus side, however, the resolute defending from earlier on in the season continued and we easily kept City out, despite the best attempts of Luke Freeman and Jonathan Kodjia.

When the game ended, it felt like the visitors hadn’t really got out of second gear for the match, and ultimately it was an easy win. I do worry for Bristol City though, who looked outclassed by a side that could win at a canter, and they look to have a long campaign ahead of them.

For Reading, though, it was a third win out of four in the league, and with the strength in the squad it looks like it could well be a great campaign ahead!

Reading 0-1 Derby: A Frustrating Defeat

Following Friday night’s massive win over Ipswich, there was suddenly an air of confidence over the Madejski Stadium. I don’t think anybody expected us to win the league or anything, but we hadn’t lost in a while, and we were finally able to add a threat up front to our solid defence so we knew we could head into most games with some real confidence. However, as usual, the next game would be a tough test – Derby County were coming to town. The Rams had, like Ipswich, been a team that had spent the last few years at the top end of the table after some great work by Steve McClaren. Despite us destroying their season with a 3-0 victory at the very end of last season, everyone knew they would once again be challenging for promotion this season and so it would be a good benchmark to test ourselves against.

Derby County were formed in 1884, mainly to keep the local cricket club active over the winter when they otherwise wouldn’t be playing. As they weren’t a southern team, they joined the football league earlier than most sides, making their debut in the first division in the 1888-89 season. Despite finishing 10^th in a league with 12 teams, they went on to become a moderately successful team at that level for a number of years and weren’t relegated to the second tier until 1907. This spell was brief however, with promotion coming in 1911, and after the suspension of football with the outbreak of war they started the inter-war years with another relegation in 1921. Again it wasn’t for long, with the Rams getting promoted back in 1926, when they entered a reasonably decent spell in their history. Two second-placed finishes preceded the Second World War, when football was again suspended, and there were two more top four finishes before the end of the 1940s.

However, two relegations in 3 seasons led to them joining the third tier in 1953, and despite two years later winning promotion they became a middle-of-the-table Division Two team for much of the 1960s – that is, until they made a masterstroke of a managerial appointment. Step forward Brian Clough.

Within two years of appointment, Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor (forming a legendary double act) won the second division and dragged the club back into the top flight, and finished fourth in their first season back at that level. Two years later, still only their third season in Division One, they won the title, and had a successful journey in Europe the following season, losing in the semi-finals in an infamous match against Juventus. Soon after this, in 1973, Clough and Taylor left after falling out with the chairman (these years were well-documented as part of the excellent film The Damned United), with their star signing Dave Mackay taking over and leading County once again to the league title in 1975. However, a decline set in, with relegation in 1980, and the club fell back to the third division in 1984.

An instant revival followed, with successive promotions in 1986 and 1987, saw them return to the top flight, but another spell in the second tier between 1992 and 1996 further damaged the club, and they were again relegated from the Premier League in 2002, five years after moving into their new stadium in Pride Park. Inconsistent campaigns plagued their spell in the Championship, and despite a promotion in 2007 they took the unwanted record of the worst team in Premier League history with just 11 points and suffered relegation again in 2008. After more difficult years back in the Championship, the club went through a number of managers, eventually settling on former England manager Steve McClaren in 2013. After his first season saw them reach the play-offs, they spent most of the following season again at the top of the table before falling out of the top 6 on the final day after a 3-0 defeat to Reading.

Over the summer they had become the highest spenders in the division, spending well over £20 million on talent such as Tom Ince, Bradley Johnson and Jason Shackell, in addition to snapping up Darren Bent and former Royals Alex Pearce and Chris Baird on free transfers. The Rams also appointed former Chelsea and Real Madrid coach Paul Clement as their manager, which seemed a bit of a strange appointment, not least because he had no experience as a number one at any club. They have endured a difficult start to the season, but they still came to Reading as a team that could cause problems to anyone.

Quite simply, they did a job on us. Learning from Ipswich’s mistakes, they played nowhere near as openly, defending a lot more tightly and being more cautious going forward. Whilst Reading had chances to see the game out, their strategy was compromised just before half-time when Orlando Sa (who had scored a hat-trick on Friday night) reacted to gamesmanship from Shackell and headbutted him, earning himself a red card.

With ten men for the second half, the game slightly shifted, with Reading forced to sit back and not risk leaving themselves open going forward, meaning Derby gained more momentum. It still took them 25 minutes to get a goal though, with Paul McShane and Michael Hector solid in defence. In the end, a great pass from Chris Martin found Tom Ince who slotted home, and in reality from that point the game was over. Chris Gunter missed a difficult chance to equalise in injury time, but few could complain about how the team had actually played despite the result when the full time whistle came.

It was a first defeat in 7, which was a massive disappointment, but once again the performance was encouraging. We could still have a good season ahead!

Reading 5-1 Ipswich Town: A Rout!

With the international break over, attentions had turned back to the domestic season, and with a flurry of deadline day signings adding to an extremely encouraging win in the last match against Brentford things were starting to look up for Reading. Nick Blackman and Orlando Sa had hit goalscoring form and they were joined up front by the loan signing of Matej Vydra, who had scored 36 goals over two seasons in the Championship with Watford. In addition, we had bought in some more attacking threat in the form of Lucas Piazon and Ola John, meaning expectations had been raised around the club. Failure was no longer an option.

However, Friday night bought with it the toughest test of the season so far, with the visit of an Ipswich Town side that had spent the last few years under Mick McCarthy challenging at the top end of the table and had started this season in a similar way. Whilst we do have a good record against them – we did the double over them last season, and had also beaten them at home the previous season – we knew they would be a big threat, especially with Daryl Murphy (the top scorer in the Championship last season) now joined by promising strikers Brett Pitman and Ryan Fraser, alongside last season’s dangerous players David McGoldrick and Freddie Sears.

Despite being one of the longest-serving Championship sides (they have stayed in the second tier since 2002), Ipswich Town are one of the biggest clubs at this level. Formed in 1878, like most southern sides they spent their early years in local leagues playing amateur football, before joining the Southern League in 1936. They finished third in their second season and were promptly elected into the Football League, entering into the third tier. After winning this league in 1953 they had a single year in Division Two before relegation, but in 1955 they appointed future World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey as their manager, embarking on a historic spell for the club. They won Division Three in 1957, sparking something of a meteoric rise as in 1961 they won Division Two taking them into the top flight for the first time in their history.

In their first season ever in the Division One, they shocked the footballing world by winning the league, with 33 goals coming from talisman Ray Crawford. The following season they reached the second round of the European Cup (before being knocked out by Milan), but after Ramsey left to become England manager the club struggled and in 1964 they conceded a whopping 121 goals during a season in which they were relegated back to the second tier. In 1968, however, they won promotion again and the following year another footballing legend – Sir Bobby Robson – took to the managerial helm. Initially struggling at the bottom end of the First Division, the club stuck with him and by 1973 he had led them to the top four, meaning they would once again enter European competition. The following season saw another 4^th place finish alongside a quarter-final in the UEFA Cup (having knocked out Real Madrid), with the side going one better to finish third in 1975.

Ipswich struggled to continue these good finishes, and despite winning the FA Cup in 1978 they finished 18^th in the league, with the team starting to become known as cup specialists. Despite this, they returned to the top six for a few years and in 1980-1 had a season to remember. Finishing second in the league (their highest finish since 1962), they managed to win the UEFA Cup, resulting in a double with Liverpool winning the European Cup as well. However, the following season they went out in the second round, meaning that despite another second placed finish the season was a little disappointing. Following this, Robson followed in Ramsey’s footsteps and became the manager of the national side, and by 1986 they suffered relegation to Division Two, from which they have never really recovered.

Ipswich have had brief spells in the Premier League since then – between 1992 and 1995, and again between 2000 and 2002 (in 2001 finishing fifth despite a remarkable slump saw them relegated the following season), but financial problems following their most recent relegation saw them settle into the Championship, where they have remained ever since. More recently they have been moderately successful under Mick McCarthy, reaching the play-offs last season, but for now they seem to have become a club that are good at this level but not quite good enough to reach the Premier League.

The Tractor Boys came into the match off the back of a good start, but having lost their last game to league leaders Brighton, and started the game looking quite dangerous. However, seven minutes in a wonderful cross from Nick Blackman following some good work from Matej Vydra led to Orlando Sa heading home for his second goal in two games. A few minutes later some trickery from Ryan Fraser allowed him to breach Reading’s tight defence, and his shot was parried by Jonathan Bond right on to Sears’ shin, and I’m not sure he even needed to kick the ball to score the equaliser. In the past this might have caused a problem for Reading, but with Steve Clarke at the helm we seemed to be unaffected by this.

Minutes on from this, a wonderful counter-attacking move led to Reading taking the lead again. With Anton Ferdinand passing out from the back, Matej Vydra drove the ball down the pitch and found Orlando Sa, who turned well and went past a couple of Ipswich men to score a cracking shot. From winning back possession to scoring Reading had the ball for less than 15 seconds, and it was fantastic to see us playing with some urgency once again. Under Adkins we’d have knocked the ball about the defence for 5 minutes first and ended up creating nothing.

Ipswich created a few more chances before the break, but so did Reading, and in the second half there was still the danger of an equaliser. However, it was the home side that were to grab the next goal. With another ball into the box Orlando Sa scuffed the shot, and a mix-up between Cole Skuse and Dean Gerken allowed Vydra to knock the ball back to Nick Blackman, who needed no cue to smash home a powerful shot from a tough angle. Not that much later another glorious counter-attack meant Nick Blackman got yet another assist before Sa scored from close-range to complete his hat trick, putting the Royals in complete control.

With the match no longer in doubt, Clarke took the chance to take off our attacking stars to some standing ovations, introducing Piazon and John to the fans off the bench. The game looked in danger of fizzling out despite Ipswich hitting the bar, but with just a few minutes left on the clock Oliver Norwood scored the goal of the evening with an astounding 30 yard shot, completing the rout. With the game then ending, the crowd were up on their feet to celebrate at full-time. By the looks of it, Reading are back!

Brentford 1-3 Reading: Bees stung after Blackman brace

Despite performing pretty well in every game so far this season, we were really struggling to convert that into results, and has only picked up three points from our four league games so far. Anyone that had been to watch us knew that results would come, but with only one game remaining before the international break it was important to get a result sooner rather than later. With a trip to Brentford upcoming – a ground where we were beaten 3-1 last season and our early season hopes had turned to dust – it was not particularly promising, and so I headed off to London hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

Brentford were formed in 1889, and whilst like most southern clubs spent they spent their early years in the Southern League, they were one of the founder members of the Third Division in 1920, having moved into their current ground Griffin Park in 1904 (making it one of the oldest in London). After that division was split and they were put into the Southern section, they spent the next decade as an unspectacular mid-table side. However, in the 1929-30 season they had an unbelievable record of winning every single home game, and despite missing out on promotion due to poor away results, ended up entering the second tier three seasons later. After a strong first season there, they won another promotion and in their first season in the top flight finished fifth. Successive sixth placed finishes followed before the Second World War, leaving Brentford entering a new era as a surprisingly successful team.

During the war, they were successful in the unofficial cup competitions, with Reading beating them in 1941 but winning the trophy the following season. The post-war period, on the other hand, saw a struggle for the West London club, with a relegation in their first full season back preceding an indifferent spell in the Second Division, and ultimately in 1953 they were relegated back to the third tier. A brief yo-yo saw them relegated to the Fourth Division in 1962, promoted again in 1963, and again spend another solitary year in the third tier in 1972-73, but after another few years of struggle in the basement division they were finally able to win another promotion and establish themselves in Division Three.

After another relegation in 1998, they bounced straight back up, and a further spell in League Two followed after a disastrous 2006-07 season saw yet another relegation. After an indifferent season there, they once again won promotion in 2009, and five years later it looked like glory days had returned to Griffin Park after Mark Warburton led the side to the Championship. Last season, the Bees were the surprise package, taking a number of scalps and eventually finishing fifth, and despite a heavy aggregate defeat to Middlesbrough in the play-offs and Warburton leaving following a re-structure by the board, the club are tipped to have another successful season, with a return to the Premiership and the club’s glory days the key aim.

Griffin Park, as mentioned above, is one of the older grounds in London, and it really does show. Situated in a residential area, it’s famous for having a pub on all four corners of the ground, with one of them being used as a filming location in Green Street (even though it was based in West Ham, the other side of London). Away fans used to have the end terrace which is now given to home fans, and instead visitors get the bizarre double-decker structure with a small terrace below and the top tier having the most cramped seating I have ever experienced at a football match. The two sides are basic seating with a number of supporting pillars, and it seems like it’s extremely difficult to get a good view with any comfort at this ground. They are planning a new stadium, but it appears that until this is built the club would have to ground share if they got a further promotion – as it stands, the league rules dictate that they would have to close the terraces if they stayed up again this season, which would restrict the capacity to a tiny level.

For me, Brentford was one of the easiest trips in the league, and the journey to Griffin Park took just over an hour by train, even with a stop at West Hampstead to get some breakfast and a short wait for a bus at Queensbury. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to stand outside and speak to friends before the match, and after watching the teams arrive we headed inside the ground. Whilst we were in the seating, my seat was at the end of a row, meaning I could rotate a little and get some proper legroom over the steps, but others had to cramp their legs up because of the lack of legroom for supporters.

Reading named their familiar line-up, with the main surprise being the inclusion of new Peruvian winger Paolo Hurtado on the bench. Brentford were restricted with a number of injuries, but started Danish striker Lasse Vibe, who Reading had been chasing the previous winter. The biggest concern for most fans was the new pitch, which had been laid during the season after the Bees had cancelled their match against Birmingham after a number of their players had suffered nasty injuries on the old surface. As a result of the hasty work, it looked patchwork, and there was a photo going around of Chris Gunter actually being able to pull up a section of it when looking around before kick-off!

Despite Reading suffering badly last season, they started in complete control, and after a number of dangerous attacks Orlando Sa hung in the air for an age to head home a great cross from Hal Robson-Kanu. Before long, our lead was doubled when Nick Blackman rifled home an exquisite free-kick that no goalkeeper in the world would have got near, and with more chances before half time it almost seemed too easy. In the second half, we sat back a little and Vibe scored an absolute peach of a goal after turning Paul McShane, but Reading still never really looked in doubt, and in injury time David Button bought down Blackman (who was on a counter attack) to give away a penalty. Despite a bizarre refereeing decision meaning Button wasn’t sent off, Blackman coolly converted to make the scoreline reflective of the Royal’s dominance during the match and send the away fans home happy.

With the international break looming large, it was fantastic to sign off with such a big win and a truly convincing performance, something that the side had been building up to all season. With McCleary and Hurtado hopefully fit before the next game and new signings possibly coming in, it looks like good times could once again be ahead for Reading.

Reading 0-0 MK Dons: Another stalemate at home

After a very frustrating start to the season, where defensively we are already looking strong but seem toothless up front, it was starting to get to the point where every match for Reading was extremely important. After dropping a point in the dying moments in the week away at Sheffield Wednesday, we had only got two points from our opening three matches, and we were in dire need of points. With a home game up next, it seemed a perfect opportunity – however, we haven’t scored at home since the opening few minutes against Cardiff on April 4^th last season, and had failed to score in 10 of our 13 home league matches in 2015. Whilst we seem solid enough to not worry about conceding, it still looked extremely bleak, and yet another 0-0 draw seemed inevitable. Several members of our fanbase knew little of our opponents and, only knowing they had been in League One last season, expected a win, but with MK Dons having a solid start to the season it was obvious it would be a challenging game.

Wimbledon were founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central, and spent the vast majority of their history in non-league. After eventually winning three consecutive Southern League titles, at the time the highest level outside the Football League, between 1975 and 1977, they were elected to the Football League, sparking the beginning of one of the most remarkable stories in English football. A promotion to the third tier and subsequent relegation back to the fourth followed, with low crowds at Plough Lane a serious issue prompting the board to consider moving the club as early as 1980. The club continued to yo-yo between the bottom two tiers of the Football League, before the appointment of Dave Bassett turned the club’s fortunes around, with consecutive promotions in 1983 and 1984 taking the South London side to the second division.

After surviving their first year at the second tier, which must have seemed like a boring season after their earlier escapades, Wimbledon were promoted to the top flight for the first time ever in 1986, and had a great first season with a sixth-place finish. With a number of strong players and a great team spirit, the team soon became known as The Crazy Gang, and in 1988 pulled off one of the most fondly remembered FA Cup shocks of all time, beating Liverpool in the final thanks to a goal from former Reading player Lawrie Sanchez and a penalty save from current Royals goalkeeper coach Dave Beasant. However, with new restrictions on English grounds coming with the Taylor Report, they were forced to move out of Plough Lane and, prompting crowds to become incredibly low. Indeed, whilst the club stayed in the top flight for a number of years and became part of the Premier League after it was formed in 1992, Wimbledon still hold the record for the lowest ever crowd in that era, with just 3,039 fans turning up for a top-flight match against Everton.

Eventually relegated in 2000, it soon became clear that the team needed to move to stay afloat, after financial difficulties mixed in with miniscule ticket revenue took its toll and the club started to operate out of a portakabin. With the board desperately attempting to find a new home, every single London borough refused to allow them to build a home in their areas, forcing the club to look outside of the capital. Eventually, nearby Milton Keynes, a new town formed as an overspill for residents of London, were receptive to hosting the side, and with no other option the club made the 60 mile journey away in order to survive. The idea had a precedent, with Arsenal also moving across the capital in the past (which may well have been a bigger deal at the time, with transport not as plentiful back then), Clyde and Meadowbank also travelling to new towns in Scotland, and Barnet also moving to a new borough in London.

With their fans having already abandoned the club a year before the move, a much reduced fanbase was increased with new supporters from Milton Keynes, prompting a name change in 2004 to MK Dons. Pressure from former Wimbledon fans who had left the club to die (forming a new club, called AFC Wimbledon, who ironically don’t play in Wimbledon either) forced the Dons to donate their previous trophies to the borough of Merton in which Wimbledon is located, but with the entire squad remaining throughout the rebrand (including club legend Dean Lewington) it’s clear that MK Dons is still the continuation of the historic Wimbledon FC. After spending a few years at the National Hockey Stadium, the originally planned stadium:mk was completed and the side moved into their impressive new home. After giving several young managers a chance, including Paul Ince and Roberto Di Matteo, the club appointed Karl Robinson in 2010 and after a few good years at League One level have finally gained promotion back to the Championship.

I’m sure this will make the “football traditionalists” and some of those who claim to be “against modern football” lose their minds, but I actually have a bit of a soft spot for MK Dons. Whilst they get a massive amount of flak for their move, they’ve actually got a good setup down in Buckinghamshire. With Di Matteo making his managerial name there, and Karl Robinson looking like a promising young boss starting out at the club, it’s clear that they give their managers a chance (especially as many chairmen might have fired Robinson for not getting promotion as quickly as they might have liked to). In addition, they utilise the loan market well, giving a chance for players such as Patrick Bamford and Benik Afobe to make names for themselves, and also have a good youth setup, bringing Dele Alli into league football. In fact, the only thing that mildly irritates me about them is the £8 car parking charge (I’ve been there a few times where the parking has cost more than the match ticket) and the fact that, but even that’s about average at clubs nowadays.

This was the first time that Reading have played MK Dons since their change of name, although one of my first ever football matches back in 2002 was against Wimbledon, in which future Royals captain Jobi McAnuff scored for the away side in the 90^th minute. Being only 7 at the time, I don’t really remember it, but it was nice to come full circle and watch another match against that team. It was also a meaningful game for a few of those involved as well – Simon Church and Matt Upson were former Royals in the Dons side, and as previously mentioned their heroic goalkeeper Dave Beasant was now coaching for us. Reading named a very similar line-up to the side that nearly beat Sheffield Wednesday in the week, with only Jordan Obita coming in for Andrew Taylor, whilst the visitors gave a debut to new loan signing Diego Poyet, but keeping their defence very similar to the unit that got them promotion the previous season.

The match followed a routine that is becoming all too familiar. Reading’s defence, epitomised by the exceptional partnership of Paul McShane and Anton Ferdinand, looked solid and we were never really in too much doubt of conceding (except for one moment where MK Dons were played through, and we were all worried until we realised it was Simon Church – although he hit the post, so perhaps he’s getting better). However, despite creating chances going forward none of them were that promising and from the off it was clear that we wouldn’t score. Orlando Sa looked useful as per usual, but doesn’t seem to be a goalscorer and would be best utilised alongside the traditional number 9 that we sorely need. Once again Danny Williams and Stephen Quinn had good games despite being shifted out to the wing, and it took some good defensive work from the visitors to prevent them from going closer to scoring.

In the second half, the Dons looked like they were going a little more defensive, with the team at times putting 11 men behind the ball and really frustrating the build-up of Reading attacks. It seemed a classic away performance though, and you have to give Robinson credit for reading the game and adapting his side to keep the Royals at bay for the 90 minutes. With full time coming, 0-0 was a result that we could all have predicted from early on, and the only real positives to take from the game were the continuing quality of the defence (3 clean sheets in 4 games, and the one goal conceded in that time was the howler from Bond, which you can’t blame on the back four) and the fact that DJ Megaparty seems to have disappeared. I also have to praise the MK Dons fans, who took over 1,300 fans from Buckinghamshire and made a lot of noise, backing their team well whilst never resorting to abuse. If only the “against modern football” crowd that have a chip on their shoulder about the Dons took a look at the fanbase, they might see that it’s a cracking club who seem to be pushing on well.

Still, 3 points from 4 games really isn’t good enough, and whilst I have full faith in Clarke and can see the performances deserve more, it is starting to make all of our upcoming matches must-wins, which is a little concerning this early in the season.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Reading: Frustrating

Last season, I had a week where I travelled up north nearly every day. On the Tuesday, I travelled up to Scunthorpe for our League Cup second round game, travelling back on the Wednesday via a congested A1. Thursday saw me travelling to Hull to tick off their ground, watching their Europa League qualifier against Lokeren. Another overnight stay there saw me travel back south on the Friday, before an early start on the Saturday meant a long trip to Middlesbrough and back for the league match. At the end of that week I was exhausted, and promised myself that I wouldn’t have another week like that. But I think we all break promises to ourselves.

Last Saturday, I had been to Morecambe, with the Sunday seeing me back at Reading for the Leeds match. Monday was a local trip, but the following day saw a visit to York and back, getting in during the early hours of the morning. This made it even more tiring having to get up at a reasonable time on Wednesday morning, knowing I would once again be heading 150 miles north to Yorkshire, this time for a trip, somewhat fittingly, to Sheffield Wednesday. In all fairness, it was a trip I was looking forward to, as Hillsborough is one of the most impressive grounds in the Championship (and, with a capacity of nearly 40,000, the largest in the ground, and the ninth largest club stadium in England), but with it being a midweek it would be yet another late finish. Mind you, after seeing some of the trips that League Two fans had to make the previous day (Carlisle’s fans apparently returned from their trip to Plymouth at 5AM), it felt like a local trip!

Sheffield Wednesday are the fifth oldest club in the Football League (only one place higher on that list than Reading), but aren’t even the oldest team in the city! Sheffield FC, now playing in the eighth tier, were formed in 1857, and are the oldest football club in the world. With the unusual name given after the club was formed by cricketers who played on Wednesdays, the Owls were a top side from early on, reaching the 1890 FA Cup Final and joined the Football League two years later. Barring the odd season, they stayed in the top tier until the 1960s, returning to the top flight in 1984 when they once again became one of the biggest clubs in the country. Their one season in the second tier, in 1990-91, saw them win the League Cup as well as promotion, and with another return to the top flight Wednesday regularly competed at the top end of the Premier League.

Things started to fall apart though, and in 2003 they were relegated to the second tier, starting a difficult spell as the fallen giants spent time in League One before only recently returning to the Championship. Having recently been bought out by Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, this season has seen a large number of promising foreign players join, and ticket prices rise massively – their top games will now cost £52 to watch, whilst our game (the second lowest price category) saw prices rise from £10 last season to £30 for away fans, and £36 for Wednesday fans to sit in the side stands. Crazy pricing for the Championship, but it looks like people are still sucking it up and going, so I’m not sure anyone can claim it’s that counter-intuitive.

My Dad would be joining me for this trip, as he tries to do a good number of away games every season. He last visited Hillsborough in the 1980s, as he had a university friend who had moved to Sheffield who he used to go to games with. We set off early, as the trip was mostly up the M1, which we knew could be painful. The road was true to form, with over 50 miles of roadworks and 50mph stretches enforced by average speed cameras (I don’t mind this when it’s protecting workers, but on the way up there was literally nothing going on, and the workers were nowhere to be seen) costing us a good chunk of time. After a quick stop for lunch at Leicester services, we ploughed on and found some street parking within a couple of minutes’ walk from the ground. After buying a programme we headed round the ground and had a look at the Hillsborough memorial, placed there after the tragic disaster which took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans.

After watching the teams arrive (I was very pleased to see Tarique Fosu return to the team after his injury), we went off to get some dinner, finding a chippy not far from the ground where we got dinner for £4.25 for both of us, before heading inside the ground. Reading, as usual, were situated in the upper tier of the Leppings Lane end, where we were given one block of seating with such a small away following expected. It’s a good view from these seats, but with the ground being so massive it seems hard to get a bad view in most seats (apart from the ones behind the giant posts holding up each end stand). Opposite was the imposing Spion Kop, holding over 11,000 seats, with either side stand holding a similar number of fans. All the stands are giant structures and of a massive height, and it’s easy to see why the ground has hosted games in the 1966 World Cup and 1996 European Championships.

Reading named a slightly surprising side, with former Player of the Season Jordan Obita dropped to make way for Andrew Taylor, and Nick Blackman also dropped to the bench. The first half was similar to all our games so far, with very little coming in the way of creativity up front, but Paul McShane and Anton Ferdinand looking extremely solid at the back and Stephen Quinn being the hardest working player on the pitch. I’ve predicted most of our games so far this season to be 0-0 draws, and the first half made this look most likely yet again.

However, the second half was infinitely better. Steve Clarke obviously gave a great team talk, as instantly we had some real attacking impetus, and could have scored a couple of times before Danny Williams put us ahead with a good finish on 49 minutes. Reading had a few more chances, with Orlando Sa heading at the goalkeeper from a good corner routine, and with the defence staying solid it looked like we might nick all 3 points from a tricky fixture. However, right at the death, Jonathan Bond inexplicably came out when he really didn’t need to, and dropped the ball right at the feet of Modou Sougou, giving him the easiest chance he’ll ever get and sending the home fans wild. It was the most frustrated I’ve ever been at a match – the game was ours for the taking but a horrendous piece of goalkeeping cost us 2 points, meaning we’re stuck on 2 from 3 games and already playing catch-up early in the season.

On the plus side, despite parking right next to the ground we were able to get away instantly and, with my satnav taking us away from the diversion created by the M1 closure, were on the motorway really quickly. It took us just under 3 hours to get home despite the endless roadworks and lane closures, which was impressive, but the whole trip was so frustrating just from one moment of madness. MK Dons on Saturday will be a tough game, with them also having a good start, and although we have a chance, the points we have already dropped makes it a must-win game.

Reading 0-0 Leeds United: Someone get rid of DJ Megaparty please!

After 3 and a half months away, it was finally time to return to the Madejski Stadium for a league game; the bread and butter of the season. The fixture computer had drawn us away first game for a few years in a row now, and with the League Cup fixture also taking place away from home it was a long overdue return to the stadium. We were playing Leeds, although it had been moved to the Sunday as the Yorkshire club had played on Thursday night in the cup against Doncaster, and had requested to move our fixture back so they could have enough time to recover (I have no idea how they manage to cope with the Christmas and Easter fixture congestion if they can’t manage 2 games in 3 days when they should be at the peak of their fitness!).

As usual, I got there early to meet up with my friends down there. Various members of our group had been to games so far but it was the first time we had all been there together, which was great. One of the new things we noticed were the various Carabao stalls set up around the ground, handing out shots of the energy drink that our new sponsors produced. The general consensus was that it wasn’t the nicest tasting thing in the world, and with it having 40% sugar I can’t see it going down to well either. They were taking photos of everyone trying it against their company background for what looked to be an advertising drive, and we later saw some of these photos on the big screen inside the ground during the second half.

After a quick drink and bite to eat in the hotel bar, I headed round to the north stand to meet my parents and Aunt and Uncle, who tempted me round with the offer of a free ice cream. Before long, we had taken our seats in the ground, where we were very disappointed to see that DJ Megaparty has still got a job. For anyone who hasn’t visited the Madejski Stadium in the last few months, DJ Megaparty is our new stadium announcer, who loves the sound of his own voice and can’t think of anything better to do than to scream out American-style lines, trying his best to take away the atmosphere from the Madejski and make us seem tinpot. Seriously, nobody listens to him anymore when he bills the game as “edge of your seat excitement here at the home of the Royals”, especially when most of our home matches have been dull enough to bore you to sleep recently.

However, the biggest change of the day was with about 15 minutes to go until kick-off, when the new song made its debut. Nearly everyone would have heard about this one – one of our shareholder and spokesperson for our ownership consortium, Lady Sasima, had penned a song for the club as a mark of her enthusiasm, the news of which had gone down with much bemusement. In all fairness, it wasn’t that bad, and the video for it worked quite well – if nothing else, everyone sat up and noticed when the special effects came in! Before the match, there had been some tall boxes stationed around the perimeter of the pitch which looked like Carabao branded drinks chillers, but during the chorus of the song they started to fire flames out of the top. Even though they were stationed around the tunnel and quite a distance from us, we could still feel the heat, so I really hope we keep hold of them and use them during some of our winter midweek matches! The entire consortium then gave a long and somewhat confused speech to welcome us to the new season and kicked some signed footballs into the crowd, whilst the Leeds fans drowned the whole event out with a rendition of “Marching on Together”.

The flamethrowers got another outing as the teams walked out to the pitch (another American touch to the matchday experience), and DJ Megaparty got rid of our traditional rallying call and instead told us to “Roar for the Royals, come on you Rs!”.

Reading got off to an ideal start, attacking early on, with Hal Robson-Kanu finally doing something useful and nearly breaking into the box before being cut down by Sol Bamba within 3 minutes. It should probably have been a red card for Bamba as it was a last man challenge, but the referee appeared to bottle it and only booked him. Norwood didn’t do too well with the resulting free-kick, and that somewhat set the tone for the rest of the game. As with the last few matches we’ve played, we looked good going forward but never really threatened to actually score, and although Leeds had some chances as well our defence looked solid and we were always confident of a clean sheet. On 21 minutes, the entire stadium – including the Leeds fans – gave a minute’s standing ovation for Eamonn Dolan, the manager of the club’s extremely successful academy for over 10 years, who has just been diagnosed with cancer for the second time in his life. It was great to see such support, and I think everyone appreciated the away fans joining in as well.

Not much more happened before half-time, where DJ Megaparty was eager to embarrass himself further. I’m sure he was very excited to try out our “new” game, which was a copycat of the “fan tries to kick the ball into the net” that most clubs have, but he literally didn’t shut up for the entire 15 minutes. Particularly woeful was his attempt to get 2 of the kids doing the half-time penalty shoot-out to do the “Royal roar”, when they both, at about 10 years old, realised how terrible the idea was, and didn’t bother trying. In response to that failure, he headed into the crowd to try and interview some fans about the match, most of whom refused to talk to him, so he ended up talking to himself over the microphone for the remainder of the interval. Seriously, whoever hired him needs to lock themselves in a dark room for a few hours and think about their decision – we were there for football, not to hear his voice all afternoon.

The second half didn’t bring much more of note, mainly following the theme of the first. It’s painfully obvious that we need a proper striker, as although Orlando Sa looked good and got through some solid work today he’s not a poacher. With the signing of pacy winger Paolo Hurtado now completed, we should start to create a bit more but we still look a bit toothless in the box. We did go close with a Jordan Obita free kick towards the end, but ultimately a 0-0 draw was never in doubt. It was a positive display defensively, but realistically I don’t think anybody enjoyed the day with the new corporate entertainment that DJ Megaparty is trying to bring. I genuinely didn’t ever think that the “matchday experience” would be able to ruin a football match, but now I think everybody realises differently.

Birmingham City 2-1 Reading: Goal-line Technology needed!

It had been just under 14 weeks, but at long last Reading were back in action in a competitive game. I had been going to football for over a month, and had seen some great games and some new grounds, but this was what everything was building towards. League games really are the bread-and-butter of the season, and it was definitely good to be travelling for some matches which meant something. The fixture computer had drawn us away to Birmingham for our opening game, which is one of the closest away trips possible, but after last season was a game that I think most fans were dreading. It had proven to be the last game of Nigel Adkins’ tenure, bringing an end to a dark chapter in the club’s history which had seen us play appalling football and making some bizarre tactical decisions. The 6-1 defeat was the only game I had missed last season, so it was nearly 2 years since I had made the trip to St Andrew’s, meaning I was looking forward to heading back up there.

Because of the short distance, and with tickets only £20 for adults (mine, as a student, was even better at £15), Reading fans were set to travel in large numbers. Our typical away following is about 300 for the longer trips, with just over 500 tending to travel for some of the easier games, but for this game we had sold out our allocation of 1,200 tickets and been given an extra bunch to sell on the day for other fans who wanted to travel up at late notice. In the end, we filled a good proportion of the away end and made some good noise during the game, which doesn’t happen too often when I travel away with Reading.

Despite being one of the shortest away trips of the season, it was an obscenely early start for me. As usual, I had booked train tickets in advance and getting into Birmingham with a decent amount of time before kick-off was cheap, but even so I headed into London much earlier than I needed to. I eventually got into Baker Street tube station just after 8, and headed into the Wetherspoons next door for breakfast. It was a little more expensive than usual, but to be fair it was central London. After filling up for the day, it was only a quick walk down the road to Marylebone where I caught my train to Birmingham. Chiltern don’t do seat reservations, so I rushed up to the front carriage to grab a seat before the train got absolutely packed (although nearly everybody got off at Bicester), and within 2 hours I was at Moor Street. It was a decent journey, and for just £3.95 there was no way I could complain.

From the city centre, it was about a mile and a half to Birmingham’s ground, which was a bit further than I had realised! It was a relatively straightforward walk but the heat from the sun didn’t make it any easier. Within half an hour I was there, and had met up with some of my friends who had driven up early as well. There were two birthdays to celebrate that day, and we even had cakes to celebrate! Eventually we headed round to see the team coach arrive, where Steve Clarke told us that Paul McShane was our new captain, and from then it wasn’t long before we decided to head into the ground. Unreserved seating was in force for this game, despite the large travelling contingent, meaning we ended up getting good seats bang in the centre of the stand.

St Andrew’s is a bit of a strange ground, with three stands making the majority of it an enclosed bowl, but one side is old-fashioned and looks out of place. To compound this, it looks like it used to hold the tunnel and players’ facilities, but nowadays they enter the field from the away end (climbing up the steps to the concourse takes you right above where the dressing rooms are now located).

Reading had named the side that I had mostly expected to start the game, although I was a little surprised that McShane was given the nod ahead of Ferdinand after such little game time in pre-season. Aaron Tshibola was given his debut in the centre of midfield, with Reading naming 4 central midfielders, and Nick Blackman partnered Orlando Sa up front (although I was partially expecting us to name him on the wing as part of a 4-5-1). It was also the first appearance for our new “African violet” kit which had been unveiled that week, which looked even more horrendous in real life. I still can’t quite work out why we made a lilac shirt for the sponsors, then ended up having it so that you couldn’t actually see the sponsor logo from afar because of poor contrast. Birmingham gave some new signings debuts, including veteran goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, but the player I was most interested in was Demarai Gray, who was the target of numerous big clubs over the last few transfer windows, and got a hat-trick against us in the 6-1 demolition last season.

The game started with both sides looking fairly equal, with Reading hitting the bar from an Oliver Norwood free kick on 10 minutes but not threatening too much after that. Birmingham looked like they had a bit more potency going forward, but the Royals’ centre-half pairing of Hector and McShane were coping with most of what was thrown at them, and Jonathan Bond in goal looked more assured than he had done in some of the pre-season games. However, not long before the break a deflected free-kick but the hosts in front, and not long after the break Reading seemed to switch off a little as Jon Toral was able to ghost through the two centre-halves to convert a cross and put City 2-0 ahead, with most Reading fans starting to worry.

However, it was less than ten minutes before the visitors responded, with Kuszczak spilling a shot wide, leaving Chris Gunter to react and put in a great cross for Nick Blackman to head home. Suddenly Reading had all the momentum and had a long spell of pressure, creating numerous chances. Most frustratingly, Tshibola launched a stinging shot which replays show crossed the line, but the referee made a huge error not to give it. I’ve no idea why the FA can’t be bothered to put goal-line technology into the lower leagues, but it clearly cost us a point (and who knows, with an equaliser and the momentum we could easily have gone on to win). Before long, Birmingham started time-wasting in some of the most extreme ways possible, meaning 5 minutes were added on.

In those 5 minutes, we must have only seen about 20 seconds of actual football, as everything seemed to take the City players an age to do. It was karma, then, when we were given a penalty (which was extremely soft in my view) 6 minutes into added time. It seemed like it would be the perfect end to the game, but Orlando Sa hit possibly the worst spot kick that I have ever seen, with Kuszczak saving easily and Simon Cox putting the rebound wide just seconds before the referee blew for full time.

It was an extremely frustrating end to the game, but we looked very good and if we had proper technology we would have got at least a point against a strong Birmingham team. It makes Leeds at home next weekend a must-win, but it was still a promising performance to start the season.

Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Sevilla: No, I didn’t make that score up

Having spent Saturday watching Reading play a side that had finished mid-table in La Liga last season, I thought it would be worth turning it into a weekend of Spanish football by going to another friendly the following day featuring Sevilla take on Championship Brighton & Hove Albion. They had finished 5^th in the top flight the previous year, and after winning their second successive UEFA Europa League they had qualified to compete in this season’s Champions’ League. As the Spanish season didn’t start for another 3 weeks and they weren’t even due to compete the Super Cup against Barcelona for another 10 days, they had opted to embark on a mini-tour of England, having played Watford on the Friday night before travelling down to the Sussex coast for a Sunday afternoon match and a flight home. I had already been tempted by the Watford game but thought it more interesting to travel a little bit further for my final friendly, so it was off to Brighton I went.

Whilst the match was an unconventional 4PM kick-off, I had yet another early start. I had dropped my iPhone during yesterday’s game at the Madejski, and as any owner knows it’s startlingly easy to break the screen, with damage looking like a spider web of cracks appearing across my device. This meant the morning and early afternoon was spent in Brighton city centre with some Apple geniuses, who after a long queue were able to fit a new screen within an hour. During this time I made a quick trip to the seafront, as it would have been a shame not to on such a lovely day. After picking up my phone, I had a quick bite to eat in the shopping centre before battling the crowds to get back to the railway station and boarding a football special from Brighton to Falmer. I’ve always heard horror stories about queues to catch these trains, but whenever I’ve gone to the ground I’ve managed to board a service without any trouble whatsoever.

As it was a special service, it skipped all the intermediate stops on the way, and within 5 minutes I had arrived at the station I needed. It’s no more than 2 minutes from there to the ground, and even though I was a little bit early (just under 2 hours until kick-off) I was still surprised how quiet it was, considering how much excitement the match had seemed to drum up. As usual, there was literally nothing to do on the stadium site (although the club have made an effort to put up a grandstand outside with bands playing every match), and a walk around the ground was as dull as ever. One of the nice touches of the new ground is the wall of legends outside the West stand, and this had recently been updated with young fans selecting their top Albion moments, which gives it a touch of character.

I waited with some fans I knew to see the Sevilla team coach arrive, although they were late as they had apparently stayed in the city centre and had to battle through crowds to get to the ground. They had announced a strong 26-man tour squad, and they were all in attendance, with big names such as Ever Banega and Yevhen Konoplyanka involved alongside former Reading enigma Daniel Carrico, and (although they were injured) Ciro Immobile and Kevin Gameiro also travelling down to the Sussex club. They seemed in a laid-back mood, with their warm-up only starting about half an hour before the game, and various players not even joining in with that until much later on.

Brighton also had a strong team with them, and with their first league game coming on Friday night against Nottingham Forest this was a final chance to make sure they had the strongest possible line-up ready to go. With the exception of Liam Rosenior, it looked like a first-choice 11, although having Bruno Saltor in his place isn’t really weakening the side. New signings Tomer Hemed and Gaetan Bong started, with a number of players that manager Chris Hughton had bought in during January’s transfer window also involved to make his own mark on a squad that had suffered a bad season during the previous campaign.

I had booked my seat near the centre of the West Stand in the lower tier, meaning I had a great view. In fairness, anywhere I sat in this stadium would have been good, as it is simply so well-built. It has to be one of the nicest grounds in the country, with no expense spared whatsoever in its construction – the seats are padded, the concourses are huge and the legroom is superb. In addition, keeping the end stands reasonably small but making the sides multi-tier allows for a slightly different look inside, and gives the ground so much more character than any other new build has. Whenever I go to the AmEx, it feels special and even this friendly felt like a grand day out rather than a meaningless game because of the stadium itself.

Despite having a bad season recently, Albion started the game the stronger side, even in the face of opposition that have clearly been extremely strong in the last few years. Youngster Solly March almost scored early on, and there were several occasions when the home side could have broken the deadlock. Indeed, it was only 18 minutes before Brighton got the opening goal, which ironically shouldn’t really have stood. With Tomer Hemed breaking into Sevilla’s box, there was a little contact between him and the Sevilla defender (but it looked like there were pushes from both players) and the referee awarded a penalty, despite it looking extremely soft (out of the 8 penalties so far that I’d seen this season, this was the one that I wouldn’t have given). Inevitably, Hemed converted it and gave Albion a shock lead against one of Europe’s best sides.

Not much later, Jose Antonio Reyes had to be substituted off after a head injury – he had originally received treatment for a heavy blow to his head before the goal and had come back on, but was still clutching his head and ended up travelling to a local hospital to get it checked – but with Konoplyanka coming on, it hardly weakened the visitors. Despite this, Brighton remained the stronger side, pushing forward often but still occasionally coming under the cosh, much to the rage of a fan sitting near me who seemed incapable of understanding that not only were they playing such a strong side, but that it was also a friendly and the result would not matter one bit.

The second half continued much in the same vein as the first, with Brighton getting the majority of chances but Sevilla still looking capable of creating things. Gael Kakuta in particular looked dangerous for much of the game but without doing too much damage, but Albion showed some great resolve in being able to see out the game. Clearly this game won’t count for too much in the long run, but a win against a side that will be in the Champions’ League this coming season is clearly good for confidence, and they look like they might have a decent season coming up.

For me, pre-season is now over, with Saturday coming up with the first league game of the season, and it was a great day out with an exciting game to conclude the first spell of this campaign.

Reading 0-0 Espanyol: Anything but friendly!

As is traditional, Reading were set to host their only home friendly of pre-season the week before the season itself started. In the past few years, we’ve generally been set to play Premier League sides such as Swansea and Wolves, so as expected the attendances have always been quite low. However, this year the club tried to change this and get a bit more excitement about the fixture by announcing that they would play a foreign top division side. Rumours were abound about various Champions’ League clubs, and so it was a bit of an anti-climax when the club confirmed that we would be playing RCD Espanyol, who finished 10^th in La Liga last season. It was even more disappointing when everyone realised that they were also set to play Southampton the following day, meaning we were highly likely to get the reserves or the youth team set to play us instead.

To be fair, Reading had countered this by pricing the tickets at a very cheap rate, meaning I would only pay £5. It was unreserved seating in the East and Lower West stands, so I wasn’t able to sit in my season ticket seat in the North, but with the attendance expected to be poor I was pretty much able to sit wherever I wanted.

Normally, pre-match I would go into the large bar situated inside the stadium’s hotel, as it’s the only place near the ground where you can sit with friends without going inside the stadium itself. However, some of my friends weren’t going to this game, and the usual food options weren’t available inside, so we ended up going in to the concourse early. I discovered that the West stand had a few separate concessions inside for local produce, but after deciding to purchase a “Lockey Farm Signature” hot dog for £4 which was absolutely horrendous I concluded that I had the best deal sitting in the North stand and not buying them every week.

Back when both teams liked each other

The two stands were very slow filling up, although it was good to see that a few Espanyol fans had travelled over from Spain for their mini-tour and were at the match. There must have been less than 20 of them, so the club didn’t bother opening the away end, and they were situated in the home ends, and as a result we had 3 young fans with a flag sitting about 10 rows in front of us. It definitely livened it up a little bit, as there was barely any noise to start with from the home fans until some incidents in the second half (which I’ll mention later).

Reading started with what looked very much like the team that will play against Birmingham. Jonathan Bond started in goal (it’s certainly very close between him and Al-Habsi, and I’d realistically be happy with either being first choice), Chris Gunter and Jordan Obita playing full-back and Hector returning from international duty with Jamaica to partner Anton Ferdinand at centre half. McShane may well be ahead of Ferdinand for league games, but he’s supposedly lacking in match fitness so it would be a surprise to see him start next Saturday. Midfield was a little puzzling, but with Garath McCleary out for a month or so we are already lacking in wingers, so we fielded what could be four central midfielders in Tshibola, Quinn, Norwood and Williams, and put Nick Blackman up top alongside Pavel Pogrebnyak. Realistically, with Hal Robson-Kanu also sitting out with a knock at the moment, it seems unlikely that we’ll change the shape of the team too much (although it was a little surprising to see Jake Taylor unused all game, when he can be quite effective on the wing, and perhaps Fosu could have done a job out wide), but it’s a starting 11 that I feel confident with.

Espanyol, as expected, kept most of their big names on the bench, with the main friendly against Southampton surely at the front of their mind, but former Swansea man Jose Canas was starting, as was Francesco Bardi, the goalkeeper on loan from Inter Milan. Over the course of the match, however, they did bring a number of their stronger players on, and by the end of the match 22 of their 23 man touring squad played some part. The main player I was interested to see was young defender Ruben Duarte, who at 19 years old has already played a few times for Spain’s U21 squad and had recently been called up to the senior side, so clearly has a great future ahead of him. The other two players on the bench that most had heard of were Mexican Hector Moreno, and Ecuadorian Felipe Caicedo, who had spent a few years in England during a spell with Manchester City.

As the match started, it was clear that Espanyol had some good passing ability and moved the ball around well, but were obviously unable to cope with the physical (to say the least) Reading side. Anyone watching this who didn’t know it was a friendly wouldn’t have been able to work it out, as the Royals put in some strong challenges throughout the game. After 25 minutes, both sides had suffered injuries, with Pavel Pogrebnyak struggling and being replaced by Orlando Sa, and the Espanyol striker coming off for Caicedo having been absolutely clattered by a challenge early on. Danny Williams didn’t last too much longer before being booked, and another injury forced a defender off to make way for Duarte before the break. As would be expected, this caused the game to break up a little, and disrupted some of the flow that the Spanish side would have wanted.

However, the second half was certainly much more exciting than the first. With Fosu on for Tshibola to make a bit of progress out wide, the youngster made some good moves, feeding Sa with a chance and almost winning a penalty himself. 15 minutes into the half, Al-Habsi came on for Bond and Cox for Blackman, with Paul McShane replacing Michael Hector for his first appearance in a Reading shirt. This meant the side settled into a more traditional 4-4-2, but not for long at all.

Within 5 minutes, Jordan Obita had lunged into a bad challenge on one of the Espanyol players right in front of us, which incensed the entire bench from the Spanish side. With one of the injured men the first to sprint back onto the pitch to protest, there were near enough 15 extra people suddenly on the pitch trying to make a point to the young full-back. It very quickly erupted into a massive brawl, with the majority of players from both sides getting involved and stadium security rushing in to try and prevent any major trouble. The referee eventually sent off Obita and Espanyol’s Alvaro Gonzalez, who spent the whole brawl buzzing around like a bee trying to provoke anyone that would rise to him, and gave a middle finger to the cameras when walking down the tunnel after his dismissal.

Before long, Steve Clarke was giving the verbals to Espanyol’s manager Sergio Gonzalez, and the game was at risk of boiling over into anything other than a football match. A few more yellow cards followed, and the game became much more physical. With tensions running high, there were very few more chances, and I think most people were relieved when the referee blew for full time to draw the Royal’s pre-season to a close. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be playing any more friendlies against Espanyol again!