| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| FA Youth Cup 2nd round | Monday, 13th November (7:30pm) | Bristol Rovers | Away | Won 6-0 |
Reading goals: Ricky Allaway (4),
Matthew Birnie, Joey Alcott
Attendance: 167 (about 15 Reading)
Reading line-up: Simon Cox,
Craig Brown (Kenny Strandberg), Michael Tonna (Alex Stanley),
Matthew Birnie, Declan O'Hara, Ricky Allaway, Adam Campion, Mark
Boddy, Joey Alcott, Scott Williams, Jason Awbery (Stephen Laidler)
Sub not used: Nathan Stamp
I arrived early at the Memorial Ground for this eagerly awaited cup clash. In fact it was two hours before the scheduled kick-off and there was no-one else there! The gates were all locked, there was only one car in the car park with no sign of the occupant and I started to wonder if the game really was on. Then a second car arrived containing the match officials and I got a bit more confident.
A car park steward turned up and explained that he only knew the game was on after reading about it in the local paper that morning - apparently that's how Bristol Rovers spread the word to their employees that they need them for a game. Certainly beats the efficient method of actually telling them what games are going on at the ground. Several people came up to the steward but all they were interested in knowing was whether the bar was going to be open - it seems that the local egg-chasing fraternity use the club bar as their local, except that they can't get in on match nights. (Memo to Bristol Rovers - to annoy them, arrange more evening games.)
Eventually people did start to trickle into the ground, and by kick-off there were around 200 including 15 Reading fans. I know that the official attendance was 167, but that's just because Bristol Rovers are fiddling the gate. Among the keen Reading fans to make the trip were Plastic Dreamer, The Scribe, Blackie (of course) as well as Club President Frank Orton.
Looking at the ground, it was noticeable that the away dugout was near the half-way line, in stark contrast to its location for the League game last April (right down by the corner flag so that the Reading bench could not shout instructions to our players, in case you've forgotten). It will be interesting to see where it is when we return to the ground later in the season.
Well, that's more than enough preamble - let's get on to the game. You won't have got this far without seeing the result so you won't be too surprised if I tell you that this was one of the best performances by a Reading line-up that I have ever seen. Of course, Reading's players play in the FA Premier Academy League every week, whilst Bristol Rovers are only in the Football League Youth Alliance, so you would expect that we were of a higher quality than them.
But in the first few moments, it was the home team that made the running. They didn't create a clear chance but did manage a dangerous cross that the centre-forward somehow missed. They really needed to make something count in that spell, because after weathering the early storm Reading's class began to show. We forced several corners without making the breakthrough. Rovers had one last chance to take the lead when a forward ran past our defence and got into a good shooting position. However, Simon Cox made a good diving save to keep out the low shot and put the ball out for a corner.
After 23 minutes Reading took the lead. From a corner Ricky Allaway rose above everyone else to head the ball powerfully into the back of the net. At the time I thought it was a surprising source for a goal, but then what do I know?
Reading seemed to sit back a bit once we had the lead, and it was Bristol's turn to force some corners. Again, though, the home team never really created a clear chance. Instead some heavy challenges started flying in. Both of our full-backs were on the end of dreadful two-footed lunges that the referee saw fit not to punish with a card. In fact for the first one he awarded a throw-in to Bristol! Well, it was obvious that if their player got the ball, it was our throw, and if he didn't it was a free-kick. This being a youth game, we had a quick chat with the linesman. He said that he thought it was a free-kick but wouldn't interfere because the ref was "on top of" the incident!
Bristol paid for their dirty play with the second foul, though. This time the referee gave a free-kick and Reading scored a second goal from it. The free kick was on the right side, but Jason Awbery put a cross over with his left foot. An unmarked Scott Williams at the back post headed the ball back across the goal area where Allaway was again able to put it into the net. This was just a couple of minutes before half-time and probably killed the game off.
At half-time I took the opportunity to explore Bristol Rovers' Main Stand, an area where obviously Reading fans are rarely able to go. Don't worry - you've missed nothing. However, I did eavesdrop a phone conversation from someone wearing a Southampton FC car coat, and looking very much like a scout, discussing the merits of "the goalscorer". So obviously that's an "Allaway to the Dell" rumour.
Before the second half started, Reading replaced the injured Craig Brown with Kenny Strandberg. Brown himself limped round the pitch after the game had restarted, and I was able to secure an exclusive interview. "Was it the tackle that did it?" I asked. "Yes", he replied. You read it here first.
I was able to secure this once-in-a-lifetime exclusive because for the second half, three of us took up our position in the Bristol Rovers home end, allowing us to quite truthfully claim that we "took their end". The only other occupant was a ball-boy. To get into the end, I furtively climbed over a fence whilst play was at the other end (so that the only steward at that end of the ground would not notice). Then Plastic Dreamer climbed through a gap in the advertising hoardings, but just when we thought we had been really clever to get into such an inaccessible area of the ground, The Scribe casually walked across, opened up a safety gate, and joined us!
Moving to this end was an exceptionally smart move, as in the second half all of the play was towards the goal we were now standing behind. That is because Reading stamped their authority on the tie, and completely dominated for the whole 45 minutes.
About ten minutes into the half, we scored a third. Again it was a set-piece with Ricky Allaway getting his head on to the cross and scoring. This time the goalkeeper just managed to get a hand to the ball but could only parry it into the net. That meant that Allaway had a hat-trick, of course. Before the kick was taken, the defence shouted to each other to "watch the 9 and 11" (Alcott and Awbery). Well, I hope that they did watch them as that might give them some measure of comfort for failing to watch the obvious threat. This started a period of the game when Reading looked as if we could score at will. The fourth was very similar to the third, except this time it was Matt Birnie who headed the ball home.
Our fifth goal was the best of the match. Joey Alcott received the ball, beat a couple of men, and then put in a shot that just crept inside the post. Scott Williams did a headfirst dive into the net, showing obvious delight, whilst everyone else congratulated Alcott. Then Steven Laidler, who had come on to play up front, missed a decent chance when Reading had a two-on-one break. He put his shot wide.
Fittingly, it was Ricky Allaway who rounded off the scoring with his fourth of the night, and another very similar to his previous ones, winning a header from a set play. That made the score 6-0, giving us some measure of revenge for a similar result at the MadStad a couple of years ago. Tonight, it was centre-back Allaway playing the goalscoring role of Jamie Cureton!
The final whistle went and both teams immediately went into some sort of warm-down routine on the far side of the pitch from all the fans. The referee left the field clutching the match ball (hang on, that's RICKY's match ball now!) and after a few minutes the Rovers players dejectedly trooped off. "They did us", said a very perceptive Rovers substitute. He might want to consider that whilst Basingstoke Town lost only 3-1 at home to Reading and even took the lead, Bristol Rovers had just lost 6-0 at home to us.
After what seemed like an age, the Reading players also left the field to wild applause from the 11 remaining Royals fans. Fellow centre-back Declan O'Hara pointed to Allaway and said "He's got a nosebleed! Five goals!" (It really was only four, but I'm certain O'Hara said five.) You could hear the Reading team shouting for joy in the dressing room - it certainly seems that there is a great spirit about this team, as well as their obvious ability.
In the next round, we are at home to Manchester United (which is why MUTV were videoing this game). You can bet that there will be rather more than 15 Reading fans at that game, and in fact Frank Orton said that we should get 10,000. Let's make sure that it's not a stadium filled with Manchester United Southern Branch glory-boys, and instead is a set of good Reading fans cheering our team onto another victory.
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