In the
Avon Insurance League Cup this afternoon, Reading beat Swindon
Town 2-1 at Didcot Town's Loop Meadow Stadium. We already knew
that we could not progress in the competition and the result is
probably not even enough for us to avoid finishing last in our group. For a match
report, click here.
Incidentally not only was the date of this game changed late on,
but the venue was changed only a few hours before kick-off.
Obviously good practice for the players.
Meanwhile, reserve games for other clubs this week have seen Reading drop two places to sixth in the League table.
Phil
Parkinson's testimonial year was launched last night, and will
include a feature game between Reading and an ex-England XI on
Monday, 13th May at Madejski Stadium, kick-off 7.45pm. The
England team will include players such as Paul Gascoigne, Glenn
Hoddle, Chris Waddle, Luther Blissett, Dennis Wise and Stuart
Pearce. The Reading side will feature some of the ex-players who
have appeared alongside Parky in the last ten years. Tickets are
on sale now from the club ticket office.
As
predicted here yesterday, the Brighton & Hove Albion away
game will now be played on Monday, 11th February at 7.45pm.
Tickets already sold are of course valid for the new date.
Today's
reserve League Cup game at home to Swindon Town has been switched
to Loop Meadow Stadium in Didcot, kick-off still at 2pm. This is
because the pitch at Newbury is unfit.
France
Under-18s beat the Republic of Ireland 3-1 in Gardanne near
Marseilles this afternoon - Reading's Simon Cox was expected to
start this match in goal for the away side. France are the
current world champions at this level, so it's not a bad result.
(Later news added 31st January: Simon played the full game.)
Adam
Campion has joined League of Ireland side St Patrick's Athletic
temporarily. The deal is supposedly initially for one month,
although I'm not sure how that fits in with the rule that
international transfers have to be for at least three months.
Some
very sad news today is that Chris Casper is about to quit the
game. Although he has played for the reserves this season, he has
never properly recovered from the leg injury suffered on 26th
December 1999 away to Cardiff City. Most of the signings by Tommy
Burns proved to be bad deals but Casper always looked like a
player who could contribute to the team, and his style of play
would undoubtedly have fared well in Division 1. His last game
for Reading was the away reserve friendly against Rushden &
Diamonds two months ago, whilst his last first team appearance
was in the friendly at home to Tottenham Hotspur in August.
Casper was taking legal action against Richard Carpenter, the player responsible for ending his career and who is currently playing for Brighton & Hove Albion (or at least taking action against Carpenter's former employers), although I believe that an out-of-court settlement is most likely to be the outcome.
Possible
new dates for the away game at Brighton & Hove Albion are
Monday, 11th February or Tuesday, 19th February. Brighton are
unlikely to be too happy about the second of those because they
would have two days less to recover from their previous game than
Reading have done. The "normal" change this season for
such fixtures has been to the Monday, and if there is a change
that still seems more likely.
The
away game at Swindon Town has been selected for television
coverage on the ITV Sports Channel and so will now kick-off at 7.45pm
on Thursday, 14th February. I dislike unnecessary late changes to
fixture dates or kick-off times, especially after tickets have
gone on sale, but on the other hand it is good that we at least
get a chance to be seen by the 27 people who normally watch
Thursday night football.
League (or FA?) rules say that under normal circumstances clubs cannot be forced to play a game within 48 hours of their previous match. As the Thursday night kick-off in Swindon is about 46 hours after the expected end time of Reading's scheduled trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday, 12th February, that means Reading should be able to force the Brighton game to be moved to the Monday evening. Whether we will do so remains to be seen.
On further reflection, I think I now know why this was such a late decision. The trip to Swindon was scheduled for FA Cup 5th round weekend - ITV Sport were clearly waiting to see which fixtures were on and obviously didn't like any of the surviving Division 1 games. That means we might also get a little concerned about the date or time of our fixture on FA Cup 6th round weekend, which is Brighton & Hove Albion at home.
Note
also that this week's reserve League Cup game at Newbury against
Swindon Town has been put back to Thursday afternoon at 2pm.
Today's
win mean that Reading end our games in January with a record of
Played 6, Won 6, Conceded 0, Points 18. Not too much room for
improvement there. Although there are some midweek games to come
for other clubs, Alan Pardew is going to absolutely walk the
Manager of the Month award, as the second highest points total so
far is just ten!
Reading
defeat Colchester United 3-0 to continue the run of wins whilst
keeping clean sheets. Yet again, other results go in our favour,
so that we are now nine points clear at the top of Division 2.
For a match report, click here.
Before the game, it was announced that John Salako has signed a
permanent contract with Reading. According to Charlton Athletic,
the fee is £75,000 now, plus further appearance-related payments
and £50,000 should we gain promotion.
Apart
from taking players from Charlton Athletic, Reading also took
three points off their Under-17 side this morning with a 1-0 win
away from home - click here for a
match report. The Under-19s were due to play Charlton at Cantley
- I assume that the game was called off. (Later news added 28th
January - the Under-19s game was postponed due to a waterlogged
pitch.)
A
young Reading reserve side including two triallists beat Cardiff
City 2-1 at Newbury this afternoon. For a match report and crowd
details, click here.
The result moves Reading up five places to fourth in the table.
It
gets better and better! Our first ever win in the town of Wigan,
by 2-0, coupled with supposed challengers failing yet again means
that Reading are now six points clear at the top of Division 2.
For match details (report to follow), click here.
The
egg-chasing hoof-fest I mentioned a couple of days ago will
thankfully now not be taking place in Reading, the authorities
sensibly deciding that a 24,200-capacity ground was far too big
for four semi-finalists.
The
latest Royals youngster to get another international call-up is
goalkeeper Simon Cox, who has been selected in the Republic of
Ireland Under-18 squad to take on France in Marseille in the
middle of next week.
Sad
old egg-chasing hacks are reporting that the semi-finals of some
Mickey Mouse competition will be defacing the turf of Madejski
Stadium in the near future. The thing is that they're saying that
the double-headed abomination will take place on Saturday, 9th
March. Now, no-one would ever trust an egg-chaser and they may
just have got things wrong, but we are at home to Brighton &
Hove Albion on that day.
It would be a disgrace to move our game for such a reason - Reading FC play weekend games at 3pm on a Saturday. (And if it turns out that Meridian want to televise their beloved Brighton on the Sunday, then we certainly don't want 60 overweight public schoolboys churning up the turf the day before.)
Reading
comfortably see off a very poor Blackpool side, with a Nicky
Forster hat-trick securing a 3-0 win. That result, coupled with
failures from other teams, means that we are now four points
clear at the top of the division. For a match report, click here. A few
weeks ago, Blackpool manager Steve McMahon said that Cardiff City
were the best side he'd seen this season after Blackpool drew 2-2
at home to them - let's hope he gets asked that question again so
that he can get it right this time.
Both
of our Academy sides lost to Arsenal this morning - the Under-19s
by 1-0 away (click here for a
report) and the Under-17s by 3-1 at home. The two Arsenal teams
are top of the league that Reading are in, so these results
probably indicate good performances from the Reading youngsters.
Russell
Lucas, who was an unused substitute for the FA Youth Cup game on
Wednesday, has received another call-up for Wales Under-16s. He
is in the squad for the home game against Republic of Ireland, to
be played at Llanelli on Saturday, 9th February. Russell already
has three appearances for Wales under his belt, in the Victory
Shield played last autumn, and will receive an official
international cap after the game in Llanelli.
With
all the reserve games this week now completed, Reading have
dropped to ninth place in the table.
The
goalkeeping rumours are ended by the arrival of Ben Roberts from
Charlton Athletic. He hasn't played for their first team since
signing for them from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2000, partly
due to injury. His most recent League experience was a spell on
loan at Luton Town nearly two years ago. His best spell was in
the second half of 1996/97 when he played regularly for
Middlesbrough in the Premiership and was part of their FA Cup run
to the final. He played a simlar role at loan to Millwall and
played at Wembley again in the AWS final in 1999. It appears that
he will be playing for our first team rather than acting as cover
for JamieAshdown.
His loan spell ends on Saturday, 16th February after the Swindon Town away game. The most recent update on Phil Whitehead was that he may be fit for the Notts County home game on 9th February, so the Roberts deal should cover us until Whitehead returns.
The
Reading Under-18 side lost 3-0 to Barnsley at Madejski Stadium in
round 4 of the FA Youth Cup this evening. For a match report,
click here.
Before the match it was announced that Nathan Tyson had signed an extension to his contract, which now runs up to the summer of 2004 - he and John Madejski posed for photos on the touchline.
Joe
Gamble has had a call-up to a Republic of Ireland Under-21
training camp at the end of January. Gamble currently counts as
Under-20, but there are no games at that age-group at the moment.
Nicky
Forster has apparently asked referee Eddie Wolstenholme to
withdraw the yellow card he waved when Forster was clearly
tripped in the penalty area at Huddersfield on Saturday. Now,
normally there is no appeal against a yellow card, as Phil
Parkinson found out earlier in the season when carded against
Notts County for a perfectly fair challenge. However, I did
notice that a Premiership player managed to get one overturned
last week, so there might yet be hope for Forster. As it was his
sixth yellow of the season, he's not in imminent danger of
suspension (a player gets a two-game suspension for ten yellow
cards, as long as they are all received before the second Sunday
in April).
Just in case anyone's forgotten, Eddie Wolstenholme is the man who missed the clear foul on Sammy Igoe in the first few minutes of the play-off final last season and so failed to send off the Walsall defender responsible.
Hang
on a moment - it looks like something's suddenly gone wrong.
Marcus Hahnemann's loan spell expired on Saturday and according
to the Evening Post it hasn't been extended. So we either have to
buy him, get someone else in on loan or play Jamie Ashdown next
week. We've still got four games (at least) before the earliest
quoted comeback date for Phil Whitehead. If what I've heard about
Hahnemann's wages is true, then I can't see any way we're going
to sign him, and in any event I'd be quite happy to see Ashdown
given another shot.
Hahnemann's record at Reading - played six games (four wins and two draws for 14 points), kept four clean sheets, conceded only three goals, current unbeaten sequence 383 minutes.
Not at
all as expected, but Reading stay top of the League due to a
fairly late equaliser for Northampton Town at home to Stoke City.
Of course, all the pressure is on the chasing pack now (I think).
Reading
beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 and go TOP of division 2. Get the
bragging in quick because a Stoke City win tomorrow away to
relegation-bound Northampton Town will push us back down to
second. Click here for
match details (report to follow).
After
a brief winter break, the FA Premier Academy League restarted
today. Reading's Under-19s lost 1-0 away to Chelsea - click here for a
match report. The Under-17s were at home to Fulham and lost 2-0.
Reading's
reserve side suffer a 2-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace at
Newbury this afternoon. Main talking points will be that Matt
Robinson played 90 minutes in his return from injury, whilst Adi
Viveash and Neil Smith also both started the game before being
substituted. The match was also held up for 14 minutes following
a serious leg injury to a Palace player, with an ambulance coming
on to the pitch in order to take him to hospital. For a match
report, click here.
Should
Reading defeat Barnsley in the FA Youth Cup 4th round next
Wednesday, we will meet Wycombe Wanderers or Norwich City at
Madejski Stadium in round 5. The Wycombe-Norwich round 4 tie is
taking place at 7pm next Wednesday, the exact same time as the
Reading-Barnsley game, and round 5 should be completed before
Saturday, 16th February.
Today
is one of the greatest days in the history of Reading Football
Club. Unfortunately I can't tell you why yet, although all will
become clear in the next few months. I will say that it relates
to a rediscovery. [See news stories for 18th November 2002
onwards for the details of this rediscovery.]
Some
confusion surrounds Anthony Rougier's decision regarding the 2002
Gold Cup. He has been quoted as saying he has turned down the
call-up for the Trinidad & Tobago side, but also as saying
that he will miss the first game and then reconsider. Whatever
the truth, he will be available for Reading's trip to
Huddersfield on Saturday, and T&T have already called up
someone to replace him so I reckon he will be missing the
international tournament completely.
Next
Saturday, we are away to Huddersfield Town. The teams immediately
above and below us in the table, Stoke City and Bristol City, do
not play their next games until Sunday, so if we avoid defeat at
McAlpine Stadium we will be top of Division 2.
Reading
beat QPR 1-0 at home thanks to a stunning strike from Andy Hughes!
The game was played in front of 19,329 spectators, the largest
crowd for any Division 2 game this season, and the third highest
League attendance for any game at Madejski Stadium (behind 20,589
for Bournemouth in 2001 and 20,055 for Manchester City in 1999).
We move up to second in the table, our highest position this
season, with only goal difference keeping us out of top spot.
Click here for
a match report.
Anthony
Rougier is one of ten overseas players called up to the Trinidad
& Tobago squad for the 2002 Gold Cup taking place in Florida
and California starting on 18th January. Although the name of
this competition makes it sound like it's unimportant it is
actually the CONCACAF equivalent of the European Championship.
This website reported as long ago as 23rd May 2001 that T&T
had qualified for the tournament, and pointed out then that we
might lose Rougier to it. There have been conflicting reports
about whether or not Rougier has retired from international
football, with Nicky Forster even joking in the Port Vale
programme that Rougier's New Year resolution was to retire (and
come out of retirement) three more times. Personally, I think
that he will turn down the chance to play in the international
tournament, because at the moment he is involved with the Reading
first team.
If he does fly to the US, Trinidad & Tobago have group games scheduled for Sunday, 20th and Tuesday, 22nd January, so Rougier would definitely miss Reading's games at home to Blackpool and away to Wigan Athletic, whilst he could also miss the matches at home to Colchester United and away to Bury, depending on his nation's progress in the competition.
Forward
Joey Alcott has joined Newport (Isle of Wight) on loan. Joey
still hasn't played for the Reading first team but appears
regularly for the reserves and Under-19 side. Newport are
currently in a relegation position at the wrong end of the Doc
Martens League Premier Division so they need the points.
John
Salako has signed a further extension to his loan deal from
Charlton Athletic. Salako initially arrived at Reading on 2nd
November, and the maximum possible length for a loan is 93 days,
so the latest that the extension can go up to is 2nd February.
Conveniently that is a Saturday (Reading are away to Bury), so I
assume that the revised deal takes him up to that date.
It was
a bit of a struggle, but Reading defeat Port Vale 2-0 to move up
to fourth place in the league table. Click here for a
match report. This week it was the turn of Graeme Murty to go off
injured early in the game. Today's result showed the real value
of undersoil heating. Whilst most of the other top half sides
failed to play a game, Reading and Stoke City were able to secure
2-0 victories and move up the table. The other teams can remember
this when the fixture congestion hits them later in the year.
Tomorrow's
reserve League Cup clash at home to Swindon Town, due to be
played at AFC Newbury, has not surprisingly been called off due
to a frozen pitch.
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