| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Friendly | Tuesday, 18th July (7.30pm) | Cheltenham Town | Away | Drew 2-2 |
Reading goals: McIntyre (penalty),
Igoe
Gamebreaker: Cheltenham's first goal
Attendance: 985 (approximately 100 Reading)
Reading line-up: Howie, Mackie (Lockwood), Robinson, Parkinson, Viveash, Hunter (Polston), Gamble, Igoe (Campion), McIntyre, Henderson (Evers), Hodges
We started off in what I think was a 4-3-3 formation with Hodges playing up front alongside McIntyre and Henderson. The midfield looked a bit lightweight with both Igoe and Gamble playing there, but they coped well. Henderson picked up an injury early on and was replaced by Evers. After that we played 4-4-2 with Evers at left-half.
Cheltenham had more attacking opportunities and forced a good diving save from Howie, but Reading scored from our first serious attack after 29 minutes. We had a four on three break but the move broke down when Evers misplayed a pass. However the ball did reach McIntyre and then Hodges in the penalty area. By now the defence was back in place but one of them tripped Hodges as he prepared to shoot. It was a clear penalty and McIntyre tucked the spot-kick away low to the keeper's left. So we were 1-0 up at half-time without really deserving it.
Soon after half-time, Evers played a perfect through ball for a striker to run on to - unfortunately it was an intended backpass and only bad finishing by the Cheltenham player kept us in front. Later in the game Evers at the other end had a chance to lob the keeper but put it too close and the keeper was able to save. It's just as well it was only a friendly as otherwise Evers would have been getting some serious stick.
Cheltenham managed to hit the bar with a dipping shot that cleared Howie and fortunately came back out into his arms. Against the run of play, we then got a second goal. Again it was on a break with Igoe getting into the danger area to slot home a cross. I can't remember the last time we scored two goals from moves starting with a break from defence.
Almost immediately Cheltenham pulled one back. An unmarked forward headed a cross home from a very offside position. It was one of those ones where he was so far offside you could tell even from behind the goal. Perhaps the linesman just took pity on the home team, and again it was just as well it was a friendly. Cheltenham continued to press and scored an equaliser with a shot from the edge of the area with only seconds remaining.
Probably a fair result but conceding two late goals is not really the manner in which you want to draw away from home.
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