| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| U-19 League | Thursday, 8th March (12noon) | West Ham United | Home | Won 2-0 |
Reading goals: Lockwood, Henderson
Attendance: 28
Reading line-up: Cox,
Allaway, Tonna (Lockwood), Maxwell, O’Hara, Makumbu, Campion
(Alcott), Gamble, Henderson, Strandberg, Brown (Tyson)
Subs not used: None
Centre-back Destin Makumbu, a trialist from Spurs, played in this game (and thanks to Kevin Dillon for telling me who he was at the end of the game, because after 90 minutes all I knew was that he was called "Des"!).
A Reading Under-19 team, including several players who had played at Maidenhead the previous evening, took on West Ham United at Cantley. The pitch was very muddy but Reading still managed to play some good football through the middle. West Ham had a very good right winger who our left-back, Michael Tonna, was not really able to deal with, but overall they looked second best.
As early as the fourth minute, Reading could have taken the lead when a free-kick found Joe Gamble unmarked near the penalty spot, but he scuffed his shot and it went straight to the goalkeeper. West Ham's first decent attack came down the right wing, but we cleared at the expense of a corner. The corner led to a goalmouth scramble and Simon Cox had to get down well to his right to save a shot. This led to a Reading break which ended with a Darius Henderson shot just past the post.
West Ham again attacked down the right wing and a good cross found a forward unmarked in the centre of the penalty area. He shot but Cox made an excellent save to keep the ball out. After 24 minutes, Henderson came close with a towering header that the goalkeeper could only parry into the air. However, the keeper was also able to dive on the ball and stop our attack.
Just before half-time, West Ham had another chance with a free-kick that just dropped wide at the far post.
In the second half, Reading were playing with the advantage of the slope and the fairly strong wind, so it was no real surprise that we dominated the half. I know that I haven't mentioned the weather yet, but given that this was a football match involving Reading you can guess that it was raining, and was very heavy at times.
Most of our good chances in the half came from free-kicks. After eight minutes of the half, Adam Campion floated one up to the far post, which was knocked back across goal where two Reading players were waiting near the post. The first player couldn't get to the ball and may have put the second one off, because his shot went wide.
Nathan Tyson came on as a sub, and because I was standing on the left wing next to the Reading dug-out I was able to hear the instructions that Kevin Dillon shouted to him. This gives you a different view of the game - I'd always liked Tyson because he has pace and skill, but what I realised from this game was that he doesn't yet anticipate where the ball will end up. There were several times when Henderson won the ball in the air (whilst Dillon was shouting, "He's going to win it") but Tyson was still standing on the touchline rather than running into the space where the ball ended up. Fortunately this can be coached into him, whilst you can't give someone raw pace.
Despite how that paragraph reads, Tyson still had some good moments in the game and nearly broke the deadock with 25 minutes left. A right-wing cross came to him at the far post - his first shot was blocked by a defender but the ball came back to him. He shot from a narrow angle but pulled it wide and West Ham cleared for a corner. Two minutes later we won another free-kick on the left which found Adam Lockwood running in from the far post. His header glanced in at the top right hand corner of the goal to give us a 1-0 lead.
West Ham had their best chance to equalise shortly afterwards when they had a five on two break. However our defenders were able to push the attacker with the ball wide and when he did put a cross over, Ricky Allaway was able to block the shot, giving away only a corner. As the ball stayed at that end, their right winger tried to run his way into the penalty area and then fell over. The linesman gave a free-kick just outside the area, which was definitely a mistake - I didn't think it was a foul at all, but if it was then it was inside the penalty area. Gamble was booked for protesting the decision, and we cleared the free-kick comfortably enough.
From our next free-kick on the left, Gamble crossed to where both Henderson and Lockwood were at the far post and unmarked, but they got in each other's way a bit and both missed the ball. However, three minutes from time, a very similar free-kick from Gamble again found two unmarked players at the far post, and this time Henderson looped his header over the keeper and into the net to give us a 2-0 win.
The trialist, Destin Makumbu, had a reasonable enough game, but his play didn't leap out and say to me that we had to sign him. However, he was playing at centre-back whilst we were attacking for much of the game, and secondly I know that my opinion on such matters is worthless! I was however very impressed with Simon Cox (who didn't have to do much but did it very well) and Ryan Maxwell in midfield.
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