Reading
draw 3-3 away to Bristol City this afternoon. For match details,
click here.Reading
draw 3-3 away to Bristol City this afternoon. For match details,
click here.
There
were no games for our teams in the FA Premier Academy League
today as it was a scheduled free weekend for the entire League.
The
list of transfer deadline day deals includes a loan move for
Jamie Ashdown to Arsenal. Now obviously he's been there for the
last couple of weeks and played for their reserves a couple of
times. That means either that there is now a more formal deal or
news agencies have got the wrong end of the stick. If we have
sent him on an official loan to Arsenal then under normal
circumstances we would be unable to recall him. (Later news:
Arsenal have confirmed that Ashdown has joined them on loan for a
month, which is effectively until the end of the season.)
Reading's
reserve team drew 0-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion in
Worthing tonight. Click here for
match details.
Chris
Casper has confirmed that he has left Reading, but there is some
hope that he is not finished with playing professional football
as he has not officially retired from the game.
Reading's
Under-19 side lost 2-1 to West Ham United at Cantley this morning.
For a match report, click here.
Joe
Gamble wasn't in the starting line-up for the Republic of
Ireland's Under-21 friendly international with Denmark this
evening, but he obviously got on the pitch at some point because
he scored the winning goal in the 88th minute. The 3-2 victory
took place at Turner's Cross, the home of Joe's old club Cork
City.
Meanwhile Nathan Tyson also came off the subs bench to score, for Cheltenham Town, and Jamie Ashdown played a second game for Arsenal's reserves. They won 3-1 and he made at least one good save.
It
looks as if Chris Casper's retirement is now confirmed. Although
we have all known for some time that this was going to happen
sooner or later, there was a significant change in the matchday
programme for the first time on Saturday. At number 20, instead
of Casper, was Bas Savage. When Savage signed, the club statement
said that he might get a first team shirt number this season, and
it may be that Nathan Tyson starting a loan spell at Cheltenham
Town (he was an unused substitute on Saturday) has helped this to
happen.
A
disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Oldham Athletic sees Reading
remaing two points clear at the top of Division 2. For match
details (report to follow), click here.
Both
our Academy sides win away to Leicester, the Under-19s by 2-0
and, in a play-off group match, the Under-17s by 2-1.
Nathan
Tyson has gone on loan to Cheltenham Town for the rest of the
season. With a lot of games in hand, they are playing two games a
week for the rest of the season whilst pushing for a last
automatic promotion spot. It is more likely that they will end up
in the play-offs, giving Tyson some valuable extra experience.
With Martin Butler heading for fitness and the arrival of Michael
Branch, Tyson was quite some distance down the Reading pecking
order of forwards.
Today's
Times includes a short article about how Reading and a couple of
other clubs near the top of Division 2 are planning to complain
about the understrength side Blackpool put out at home to
Brentford on Tuesday night. It appears that Alan Pardew is the
prime mover behind this. From the point of view of this season, I
don't really see the point because the only possible action the
Football League would take would be to fine Blackpool. We might
also expect complaints from some of the other sides near the
bottom of the table when they realise that we played Jamie
Cureton on the right side of midfield away to Cambridge United,
thus helping Cambridge to gain a surprise point. However, a
punishment for Blackpool might make clubs think before taking
similar action in the future.
Arsenal
reserves beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 last night in an FA Premier
Reserve League fixture played at Stevenage. Jamie Ashdown played
in goal for Arsenal, with one of the defenders in front of him
being Martin Keown (so almost as good as John Mackie). Trying to
read between the lines of the various match reports I have seen,
Ashdown had little chance with the Tottenham goal after eight
minutes and made at least one decent save later in the game.
Reading have described Ashdown's spell at Arsenal as "a sort
of work experience" whilst Arsenal are calling it "short
term cover".
Reading
have confirmed that we hope to sign 23-year-old former England
Under-21 international Michael Branch on loan from Wolverhampton
Wanderers today. He used to be a forward but has more recently
switched to the right side of midfield, which suggests that the
MRI scan Sammy Igoe had this week provided some bad news.
(Later news: Branch has signed on loan to the end of the season. Igoe is out because of his groin injury this Saturday but may be back in contention the week after.)
The
Evening Post website is announcing that Reading will be
announcing a new signing tomorrow. Whether this is genuine or not
remains to be seen, but I have been given the name of a fairly
young England Under-21 international and told that he's on his
way. I'd guess it's a loan deal.
Jamie
Ashdown has been at Arsenal this week, described by Reading as
work experience, and is set to play for their reserve side
against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Premier Reserve League
tomorrow.
When
it finally happened, the reserve game was at 2pm at Sonning but
the result was a 2-1 victory for Oxford United over Reading. For
a match report, click here. Martin
Butler and Kevin Watson played the first half, whilst trialist
Steve Warren played the second and scored our goal.
According
to Oxford United, today's reserve game will be played at 1pm this
afternoon at Reading's training ground in Sonning. It is behind
closed doors with "no spectators allowed to attend".
The last game a game was played like this at Sonning, the same
statements were made in advance but there was nothing to stop
anyone turning up to watch (quite apart from the fact that you
can see the pitch adequately from the road anyway - closer than
the away fans' area at Brighton in fact).
According to Reading, the game is at 2pm at Sonning with no mention of the "behind closed doors" bit. Obviously if we aren't going to turn up until 2pm, then kick-off will be at 2pm!
The
Oxford Mail reports that tomorrow's reserve game may be played at
Reading's training ground in Sonning. Both Oxford City's and
Didcot Town's ground have apparently been ruled out because the
surface is too heavy following recent rain. Another report has it
that the game will be behind closed doors at Madejski Stadium.
Leo
Roget has signed an extension to his loan deal that takes him up
to 20th April. Roget has played one game for the first game, away
to Swindon Town in which he did fairly well, and three games so
far for the reserves. He has clearly been signed to provide cover
for our other centre-backs. In the highly unlikely event that we
have any games after 20th April (postponements, late switches by
ITV Digital, that sort of thing!), then we would be able to
extend Roget's loan further because he will not have reached the
maximum loan spell permitted, which is what we were caught out by
with Adrian Whitbread last season.
It
seems that the venue of Wednesday's scheduled reserve game away
to Oxford United is in some doubt. This is all a bit vague, I'm
afraid, but I think I heard that Reading weren't happy with
playing at Oxford City (the normal reserve venue) and that the
game was likely to be played at another venue in Oxford. If so,
the most likely might be the Iffley Road sports track of Oxford
University, notable as the place where I ran a sub-four-minute
800m race a few years ago....
Reading's Under-19 Academy player Adam Campion has been on trial at Oxford United and played as a substitute in their last reserve game. (Later news: Reading have called his spell at Oxford "work experience", whilst Oxford described it as a "trial". This is of course pretty similar to what happened when Darius Henderson went to Charlton Athletic, at which time it was Reading who told the truth and Charlton who tried to make more of it, so I would assume that the same applies in this case.)
Tonight
at 7.30pm in the Jazz Cafe at Madejski Stadium sees the launch of
STAR, a Supporters Trust at Reading. You can read more about the
meeting and about STAR here.
Reading
comfortably win 2-0 away to Chesterfield, a win that included the
goal of the season from Nicky Forster. Kevin Watson started the
game and played for most of it, slotting into the side as if he
had never left. For a match report, click here.
(published
Sunday, 17th March) The first ever meeting between Reading and
Liverpool, an Under-17 play-off game played at Didcot Town, ended
in a 0-0 draw. For a match report, click here.
Based on the League results up to this point of the season,
Liverpool are probably the best side in the country at this age-group,
so this is a superb result. The Liverpool manager said that it
was the toughest match they had played this season, an amazing
statement when you consider that his team has played against
Arsenal, Leeds United, Manchester United, Everton and Crewe
Alexandra. However, his grip on reality may not be that good as
he also said that Reading had won our group, which is not quite
accurate.
The Under-19s were supposed to play at home to West Ham United but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Some
more about Kevin Watson - he was scheduled to play a reserve game
on Wednesday night but was withdrawn due to the fact that his
club had finally decided to sell him to Reading. That probably
means he didn't train on Wednesday, whilst he certainly didn't
train on Thursday morning because he was sorting out details of
his move. He hasn't played a first team game since 9th February,
but did play a reserve game last week. The conclusion from all
this is that he may not be fully match-fit and so might not start
against Chesterfield tomorrow.
In the six games that Watson played for us during his loan spell, he played in central midfield. His partners in central midfield were James Harper, Neil Smith and Keith Jones, each of whom started two games alongside him. However, in one match Smith went off injured during the first half and was replaced by Harper, whilst in another Jones was replaced by Harper with half-an-hour remaining. So his most frequent partner was Harper. When Watson does start a first team game (which I would reckon to be a near certainty for our last six games even if it's not the case tomorrow), it's not so clear as to who will be left out of the side.
Typical!
I head off to the training ground, hoping to find out the latest
on Forster and Butler, and so am late with the news that Kevin
Watson is about to sign a deal with Reading. As I understand it,
he had a medical at Madejski Stadium this morning and had still
to agree to personal terms, but there is expected to be
confirmation that the deal is complete by this afternoon.
The fee will be £200,000 in total, which includes an appearance-related amount. Given that the number 6 shirt is vacant, I would expect him to take that. In fact, Kevin Dillon said on BBC Radio Berkshire that shirt number 6 had been deliberately kept free for Watson!
(Later news) Watson's signing has been completed. The fee is £150,000 plus a further £50,000 after he has made 30 League appearances. He has signed a contract for the next two seasons, which is one year less than what he had said he was looking for.
And from what I could tell at Sonning, Nicky Forster appeared to be training normally with the rest of the squad whilst Martin Butler was doing special work with Niall Clark.
Reading's
reserves beat Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 at Newbury. Click here for a
match report.
Frank Talia played his first game for Reading, having signed a two-month contract earlier today. Talia, whose full first name is Francesco, is best known for his spell with Swindon Town. Most recently he had a short spell with Royal Antwerp in Belgium earlier this season, but only played for them a few times. Before that he had trials at Benfica. Although he is an Australian, his Italian ancestry means that there are no work permit problems.
Charlton
Athletic have announced three pre-season friendlies for next
season. One of them is a trip to Madejski Stadium to face Reading
on Friday, 2nd August with a 7.45pm kick-off.
Tonight's
Division 2 results mean that Reading are now two points closer to
automatic promotion.
Play-off
fixtures for the Under-17s have been officially released now, and
as stated here on Sunday Reading will play Liverpool, Sheffield
United and Leicester City in our attempt to reach the knockout
stages. It will be a very difficult task, particularly the first
game which is at home to Liverpool on Saturday and will be played
at 11am at the Loop Meadow Stadium in Didcot. Although there is
provision in the rules allowing clubs to make admission charges
for Academy games, admission to this game will be FREE. Reading
are obviously getting soft! So if you're not going to
Chesterfield (or if you are and you own a private jet), Didcot at
11am this Saturday is the place to be.
Ceefax
reports that Leicester City's Junior Lewis, currently having just
completed the first month of a three-month loan spell at Brighton
& Hove Albion, may be on his way to Reading. They quote as
their source BBC Radio Berkshire, although this story was
certainly not mentioned on the 1.30pm or 3.30pm sports desks
today (it was on the 4.30pm sports desk, though). Lewis was the
midfield player who won a lot of headers on Saturday by the
simple method of pushing our players out of the way first and
then not getting penalised. When he tried the same technique on
Phil Whitehead in the six-yard box in the last minute, the
referee did give a free-kick against him, though.
There is one possible reason why this story has broken now - a club is not allowed to recall a loaned out player until the first 28 days of the loan are complete, and for Lewis that period has just ended. However, it sounds to me more like an attempt by Reading to destabilise one of the other clubs going for promotion. Leicester are suggesting that the fee might be around £300,000, presumably an opening gambit.
Apparently
John Salako was the studio pundit on BBC1's FA Cup Match of the
Day tonight.
Our
Under-17 have played their 24 League games for the season and
will now go into a play-off group against a further three teams
from across the country. Because we finished ninth in Group A, we
now go into Group 5, against the first-placed team from Group C (mostly
North-West teams), the third-placed team from Group B (mostly
Midlands teams), and the fifth-placed team from Group D (mostly
North-East and Yorkshire teams).
This is all unofficial, and you certainly won't have seen this anywhere else, but I believe this means that we will play against Liverpool, Leicester City and Sheffield United. As far as I know this will be the first time that we have ever played against Liverpool at any level (the only other possibility I can think of was that there was an FA Youth Cup game once).
The games are scheduled for the next two Saturdays and Saturday, 6th April - I assume that we will have one at home and two away. The winners of the play-off groups go into a straight knock-out tournament to determine the overall Under-17 champions.
One caveat to all the above - Peterborough United withdrew from the Under-17 League at the start of the season. As far as I know this has not changed the play-off format except to create a gap in one of the play-off groups.
In a
very dull game, Reading failed to break down Brighton & Hove
Albion and drew 0-0. We stay five points clear at the top of the
table and are now the only team who have the destiny of the
championship in our own hands. For a match report, click here.
(published
Sunday, 10th March) Our Under-19 side's game away to Birmingham
City today was abandoned due to high winds. I'm sure we were
stuffing them up to that point!
The Under-17s have finished their League programme and so had no game today. Unfortunately, the two teams below us both won their game in hand (how often does that happen?), so Reading finish in last place of the nine teams. The Under-17s now go into a play-off group against three other teams from across the country - I will add who they meet later on Sunday.
The
Supporters' Club have announced the revised date for the meeting
to lauch STAR, a Supporters Trust At Reading. It will now take
place on Monday, 18th March in the Jazz Cafe at Madesjski
Stadium, commencing at 7.30pm. The meeting is open to all fans -
to find out more about this, and Supporters Trusts in general,
click here.
A very
strong reserve side beat Bristol City 3-0 in a League game this
afternoon - click here for
match details. The result moves Reading up to seventh in the
League table.
Meanwhile the last game is played in our reserve League Cup group, and ensures that we finish last in that particular competition.
The
Under-19s played a rearranged home game against Charlton Athletic
today. After a late switch of venue to Didcot Town's ground,
Reading lost 3-0.
Reading
throw away another two points against a rubbish side, managing
only a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth. We do stay five points
clear at the top of the table but need to buck our ideas up very
quickly if we are to stay there for much longer. For match
details (report to follow), click here.
Reading
come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Cambridge United,
with Phil Whitehead also having to save a penalty. For a match
report, click here.
This leaves us seven points clear at the top of the table.
(published
Sunday, 3rd March) Both of our Academy sides beat Southampton
this morning - the Under-19s 4-0 at home and the Under-17s 2-0
away. Unfortunately the Channel 5 programme featuring the
Southampton Academy comes to the end of its run next week and so
will probably not show any of the action from these games (as it
usually shows the games that took place two weeks previously). It
might however be worth tuning in at around 12.40pm next Sunday
just in case.
The Under-17s have now completed their 24 FA Premier Academy League games, and will go into a play-off group where they play a further three games. There are still some outstanding matches for other teams, so I don't believe that the composition of the group or the remaining fixtures are known yet.
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