Reading's
reserve side drew 1-1 away to Swindon Town this afternoon. Click here for
match details.Reading's
reserve side drew 1-1 away to Swindon Town this afternoon. Click here for
match details.
Ricky
Allaway has left Reading and joined Basingstoke Town. Allaway did
have a Reading contract to the end of the season but it has been
clear for some time that it wasn't going to be extended. He has
recently been on loan at the Hampshire club. Despite many
appearances for the reserve and youth sides, the closest Ricky
got to the first team was an appearance as an unused substitute
away to Bury at the end of the 1999/2000 season.
Nicky
Shorey's first goal for Reading is enough for a 1-0 victory over
Bradford City tonight - click here for a
match report. We move up two places to tenth in the table.
Phil
Whitehead's loan spell at Tranmere Rovers has ended and he is
back training with Reading. However, he was not named as
substitute goalkeeper for the game tonight and so is certain to
head off again soon.
There
was an announcement recently that ITV1 had secured a Nationwide
League highlights deal but since then we have seen no change to
the action on the screen. Some details are now available - the
regionalised Soccer Sunday programme will return on Sunday
afternoons starting from this Sunday, and Nationwide League Extra
will reappear in its "post-midnight on Monday (so really
early morning Tuesday)" slot starting from next week. Sky
Sports will start showing proper highlights programmes including
every goal from this Thursday - this week the show is on Sky
Sports 1 at 8pm.
The
PFA organises a fans vote for the player of the month in each
division, with the player of the season vote being between the
various monthly winners. Last season John Mackie won the award in
March, and Andy Hughes is well up in the running for the October
vote. To register your vote for him, follow this link:
PFA
Fans' Player Awards
Note that after you think that you have cast your vote, you will
be sent an e-mail with a further URL and a password to actually
cast it.
A rare
triumph for evil over good as a disappointing performance sees
Reading slip to only the fourth away defeat in the last twelve
months. We lose 1-0 at Preston North End - click here for a
match report. The result means that we drop two places to 12th in
the table.
In the
FA Premier Academy League, our Under-19 side lost 2-1 at home to
Chelsea. (Added 28th October) The Under-17s drew 1-1 away to
Crystal Palace.
The FA
Cup 1st round draw takes place today. And we're not in it!
Let's all laugh at Preston part four -
This series has been moved to the features
section.
The
draw for the opening rounds of the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup has
been made, and Reading have again not entered. Nevertheless, this
website will provide full details throughout this season's
competition - click here
to see the draw.
Kevin
Watson and (not too surprisingly) Nicky Forster have both been
named in the Division 1 team of the week.
Yesterday
the Portsmouth paper The News reported that Portsmouth are
thinking about looking for a temporary venue to play at whilst
Fratton Park is redeveloped (rather than playing games with a
much reduced capacity). Their chairman has ruled out ever going
to Southampton, but said that he would consider approaching
Reading if his club's fans wanted it. Of course, this would be an
ideal opportunity for us to kick out our current squatters so we
must hope that something happens.
Let's all laugh at Preston part three -
This series has been moved to the features
section.
A
strong Reading reserve side beat Bristol City 6-0 at home this
afternoon with two goals each for Martin Butler and Sammy Igoe,
as well as one for Jamie Cureton and an own goal. For a match
report, click here.
Let's all laugh at Preston part two - This
series has been moved to the features
section.
Our
next game is away to Preston North End, bringing back memories of
the on- and off-pitch clashes between the two clubs three seasons
ago. As a tribute to those interesting times, I'm going to run a
feature each day for the rest of this week to bring the memories
flooding back. Firstly, let's go back to the previous season and
a rare win under Tommy Burns (spit):
Let's all laugh at Preston part one - This series has been moved to the features section.
Defender
and third year scholar Alex Stanley has joined Aylesbury United,
technically "on work experience" but for all practical
purposes "on loan".
According
to the official Bradford City website, our home game against them
on Tuesday week is in doubt because of the possible national
firefighters' strike. They say that Reading would be unable to go
ahead with the game if there was no emergency cover. I have no
idea if there is any truth in this.
A home
win on a Saturday! A Nicky Forster hat-trick helps Reading beat
Ipswich Town 3-1 in front of our largest crowd of the season so
far, but we stay 10th in the table. For a match report, click here. Before
the game, the plaque in memory to Maurice Evans was officially
unveiled by John Madejski and one of Maurice's sons. Also before
the game, first year Academy scholar Russell Lucas was presented
with another Welsh cap, presumably for his recent appearances in
the UEFA Under-17 Championship.
In the
FA Premier Academy League this morning, Reading's Under-19s lost
1-0 away to Millwall, whilst the Under-17s drew 2-2 at home to
Watford.
Adi
Viveash has now returned to Oxford United on loan. The deal is
until 16th November, and is described as an extension to the
previous loan with a view to a permanent move.
Although
the Adi Viveash to Oxford deal does not appear to have gone
through yet, Academy midfielder Steve Warren has today joined
Walton and Hersham on loan until 17th November. He is expected to
play for them on Saturday in their home game against Horsham in
Ryman League Division One South.
Alan
Pardew and Kevin Dillon were the guests on the BBC Radio
Berkshire phone-in tonight. Some highlights:
(a) Adi Viveash is going back to Oxford United on another month's
loan (which I didn't think was allowed so the rules must have
changed), and Pardew says he is disappointed that a permanent
deal has not happened.
(b) Pardew says that 60 points would be enough for the play-offs.
Not sure what he meant to say but I bet it wasn't that!
(c) Something different will be tried on Saturday to improve the
atmosphere.
Tomorrow's
reserve game away to Portsmouth has fallen foul of the weather,
with both rain and gale force winds hitting the South Coast.
Goalkeeper
Jamie Young has been called up to the England Under-18 squad for
the friendly away to Tunisia next month. The game takes place on
14th November in Tunis and is part of a week-long training camp.
Young was in an Under-17 training camp with England at the end of
last season, but has yet to play internationally for any country.
He is eligible for Scotland and Australia as well as England.
On
Saturday, before the Ipswich Town game, the Maurice Evans blue
plaque outside Madejski Stadium ticket office will be officially
unveiled. The informal ceremony will take place at 12.30pm in the
presence of Maurice's widow Mary and representatives of Reading
FC. This excellent memorial was organised and financed by Reading
Football Supporters Club as a permanent tribute to one of the
greatest servants of our football club.
Only
one Academy result known so far from today - the Under-10s
continued their excellent start to the season with a 5-0 win over
Watford. Obviously, at this age the performance is more important
than any individual result, but when you win every game, as the
Under-10 side has been doing, the performances must be good as
well! (Later news: Some other results - Under-14s drew 3-3, Under-13s
lost 3-1, Under-12s won 2-0 and the Under-11s lost 5-2.)
Reading's
reserve game away to Portsmouth, originally planned for January,
has been brought forward to this Wednesday afternoon, with a 2pm
kick-off. It will be played at Fratton Park. Our originally
planned home reserve game against Bristol City on that date had
been put back a week, presumably to avoid using the Madejski
Stadium pitch the day after the England Under-21 game against
Macedonia, whilst Portsmouth's scheduled opponents Cardiff City
cancelled their game due to international call-ups. Portsmouth
currently top the Avon Insurance Combination league table with
seven wins out of seven.
After
today's Division 1 fixtures, Reading drop one place to 10th in
the league table.
Reading's
Under-19 side lost 1-0 at home to Southampton this morning. For a
match report, click here.
The Under-17s lost 4-0 away to Aston Villa.
Not
sure what to do tomorrow? Well, here are three suggestions:
(a) Reading's Under-19 side are at home to Southampton in the FA
Premier Academy League. The game is being played at our usual
home ground of Bisham Abbey with an 11am kick-off. Reading's
Academy office have confirmed both the venue and time.
(b) The Under-17 team are away to Aston Villa. Again it's an 11am
kick-off but the venue is Bodymoor Heath Training Ground, Bond
Street, Middleton, Tamworth.
(c) All of the Girls Centre of Excellence sides are playing at
home to Fulham. These games will take place at Cantley with an 11.30
kick-off. Venue and time from the Reading Evening Post.
Presumably the Under-16s, Under-14s and Under-12s will be
playing, although I'm not sure about the Under-10s.
Assuming that all goes well, 1871 will bring reports on either (a) or (c) sometime on Saturday.
Darren
Campbell scored a goal for Scotland Under-17s in their final game
in the UEFA Under-17 Championship first qualifying round.
Scotland lost 3-1 to Turkey but still win their group and
progress to the second round. Darren played the whole game.
Adi
Viveash was back training with Reading today. I think that his
loan spell at Oxford United ended on Saturday and that Oxford
have not extended his loan, despite showing interest in doing so.
As I understand the rules, this means that they would have to
sign Adi permanently if they wanted him for their next game.
The
squad for the England Under-21 game against Macedonia, to be
played at Madejski Stadium on Tuesday, 15th October, has been
announced this evening. Despite Alan Pardew's pleas from about a
month ago, Nicky Shorey has not been included.
The
schoolboy Academy sides took on Charlton Athletic today. Results
from the age groups playing at Cantley were that the Under-10s
won 3-2 and the Under-12s by 3-1. The Under-14s lost 2-1 and the
Under-15/16s had an untypical day as they lost 7-1.
Not
sure when this was announced, but England Under-20s have
scheduled a game at Madejski Stadium. It's against Germany on
Thursday 6th February 2003, and forms part of the International
Under-20 Match Series, a four-team season-long friendly
tournament played on a home and away basis. Former Reading
Academy goalkeeper Shaun Allaway (an unused substitute for
Grimsby Town yesterday) is in the England squad for the first
game of the series. Allaway has squad number 1 so is likely to
play in that match which is on 24th October and is the away game
against Germany.
Scotland
Under-17s yesterday won their second game in the UEFA Under-17
Championship first qualifying round. They beat Azerbaijan 2-1 -
at the moment I don't know if Reading's Darren Campbell played,
but he didn't get either of the goals. The victory means that
Scotland have won the group with one game remaining and so will
progress to the next stage. Their last game is against Turkey on
Monday, to be played in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgayit.
Phil
Whitehead was named in the Division 2 Team of the Week for last
week. Now clearly that was before Saturday's game, but it was
definitely after the 6-1 defeat against Southampton in the
Worthington Cup on Wednesday, so it's seems a bit odd. As the
only game played by Reading last week was the 1-1 draw with Stoke
City, it's not too much of a surprise that we have no-one in the
Division 1 select line-up.
Reading
comfortably beat Grimsby Town 3-0 away from home, and move up to
9th in the table. The game includes one of the all-time great own
goals, as Darius Henderson and a Grimsby player challenge for the
ball which ends up looping 40 yards into the home net. For a
match report, click here.
(Added
Sunday, 5th October) Our Academy sides, weakened by call-ups to
the first team and to international squads, both lost on Saturday
morning. The Under-19s went down 4-1 at home to Arsenal, whilst
the Under-17s were beaten 2-1 at Southampton.
Carlisle
United have signed a whole load of players on loan today, but
none of them appear to be Joe Gamble. Whether this means they
have lost interest in our midfielder or if negotiations are
continuing remains to be seen. What is certain is that Carlisle
expect to bring more players into their club, whether on loan or
on permanent deals, and that Gamble did impress in his appearance
for them on Wednesday night.
Reading's
Darren Campbell made his competitive debut for Scotland today in
their 3-2 win over Ukraine, playing the whole game. This match
was part of Scotland's UEFA Under-17 European Championship first
round qualifying group and like the rest of the group was played
in Azerbaijan. There are two more games later this week, and
Darren's appearance means that he is now qualified only to play
for Scotland despite previous appearances for England as well.
For full details of the Scotland team's progress in the
competition, go to the current
internationals page.
Some
bad news before the weekend - the referee for the Grimsby Town
game will be Howard Webb from Rotherham. In his only previous
refereeing appearance at a Reading game, Webb managed to disallow
a perfectly good Reading goal and failed to award us a clear-cut
penalty. That match was the first v second clash against Walsall
at Bescot Stadium two seasons ago - we can only hope that he has
severely improved in the meantime.
Joe
Gamble played for Carlisle United in their 3-1 win over Newcastle
United in a friendly game this evening. Carlisle had organised
the game to look at four trialists, including Gamble.
A
Martin Butler hat-trick helped the reserve team beat QPR 4-0 at
home this afternoon. For a match report, click here.
As
expected, the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday, 12th October
has been called off due to the number of Palace players getting
international call-ups. The new date is Tuesday, 26th November
with an 8pm kick-off.
Carlisle
United have taken Joe Gamble on trial with a view to a loan spell
at the Division 3 club. He is set to play in a friendly game
against a Newcastle United reserve side on Wednesday evening (kick-off
7.30pm at Brunton Park). Apparently also in the game is Peter
Beardsley, who will play one half for each side.
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