| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| U-17 League | Thursday, 26th October (1pm) | Birmingham City | Home | Lost 1-3 |
Reading goals: Hodgkiss
Attendance: About 15!
Reading line-up: Clitheroe, Boddy
(Samuel), Stanley, Middleton, Stevens, Stamp, Corbisiero, Howell,
Hodgkiss, Bird (Bailey), Beckles (Awbery)
Subs not used: None
The Reading side included trialist goalkeeper Peter Clitheroe.
Report from The Scribe:
We had an Under-18 FA Youth Cup match last night, both the Under-17s and Under-19s have Academy fixtures scheduled for Saturday, and we are suffering from several injuries at the moment. So Reading fielded a very young side in this fixture, and did not even manage to name five substitutes. In fact, you really have to question why this game took place on this date. Fortunately the weather was not too bad - although it was windy and chilly, there was broken sunshine during the game and the playing surface was in good condition.
Reading were out of the game very early on as we went 3-0 down in the first 25 minutes. The first goal was a decent one as a Birmingham forward won the ball on the edge of the area, took it forward and then slotted home from 15 yards. The second was a disaster as Reading goalkeeper Peter Clitheroe tried to take a quick free-kick given for offside, but slipped as he kicked it. The ball went straight to Birmingham's centre forward who fired back over Clitheroe and into the net from 30 to 35 yards out.
We gave away another poor goal soon afterwards, when a curling free-kick from the left was missed by every defender and flicked into the net off a Birmingham head. However, before half-time Reading got one goal back when Tom Hodgkiss almost repeated Birmingham's second goal. This time the chance came from a poor goal-kick, which Hodgkiss controlled and then hit back over the keeper's head.
Reading played much better in the second half and Hodgkiss hit the bar early on, but we made no further chances and the game ended up at 3-1.
I think that this was the worst performance I have seen from either our Under-17 or Under-19 sides, and certainly not up to our usual standards. We didn't function as a team and never really settled down to play football. Both our passing and control were poor, although things did improve after half-time. Birmingham on the other hand produced much better passing and running off the ball, as well as looking fitter.
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