| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| U-17 League | Saturday, 10th March (11am) | Ipswich Town | Home | Won 1-0 |
Reading goal: Fashanu?
Attendance: 52 (including Stuart Beavon)
Reading line-up: Young, ?,
Stanley, Middleton, Theo, ?, Laidler, Howell (St Louie?),
Fashanu, Ambrose ? (Bailey), Soares
Sub not used: ?
This game was switched from Cantley to Sonning because of the poor state of the Cantley pitch. Unfortunately (but not too surprisingly) no-one told me, and so I missed the first 30 minutes. Thanks to Eddie, the Evening Post photographer, for giving me a lift to Sonning otherwise I'd have missed the whole game.
However, getting there late means that I never did work out who all the players were, so I'll have to wait to find out who played. Nothing much happened in the 15 minutes or so of the first half that I managed to catch.
In the second half, Reading were playing with the benefit of the breeze. Although most of the half was played in sunshine, there was also a heavy downpour just so that we didn't get complacent about the weather.
From what I saw, Reading's midfielders Simieon Howell and Steven Laidler dominated the game. Howell plays in a more defensive role and is brilliant at shielding the ball from the opposition and then playing a good pass. Laidler was more creative, but he also could win the ball in midfield. After four minutes of the half he did just that and sent the ball down the left wing for Andre Fashanu. The Ipswich goalkeeper came right out of his goal but Fashanu still won it and shot from a very tight angle, whilst 20 yards from goal. However he just couldn't get it on target, and it went out for a goal-kick.
After 20 minutes Alex Stanley took a free-kick on the right. He curled it in with his left foot and it reached a Reading forward on the edge of the six-yard box - he stretched out and stabbed the ball into the net. I was so busy applauding (in order to annoy the rather obnoxious parents of Ipswich players, who were standing on either side of me) that I completely missed who got the touch, but I assume it was Fashanu because he was certainly in that area of the pitch as the ball came over.
Reading held on for the win without really being threatened. Ipswich (who had the second best Under-17 record in the country before this game) were generally stronger in the tackle, but Reading were better at putting moves together and creating opportunities.
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