| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Worthington Cup1st round, 1st leg | Tuesday, 22nd August (7.45pm) | Leyton Orient | Away | Drew 1-1 |
Reading goal: Cureton
Gamebreaker: Final whistle!
Attendance: 2,316
Reading line-up: Whitehead,
Gurney, Robinson, Newman, Mackie, Viveash, Igoe (Gamble), Evers,
Henderson (Butler), Cureton, Rougier
Subs not used: Ashdown, Haddow, Caskey
The Orient programme helpfully reminded us that it was the anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth Field. And the winter of our discontent was made glorious summer by the arrival of Jamie Cureton. Having not played for ten days, it was no surprise that he made the starting line-up for this game. The remainder of the selections showed that we were being careful about picking up injuries to further key players, as Mackie and Igoe came in for Hunter and Caskey. Also Evers replaced Parkinson and Henderson played up front with Rougier moving to the wing in place of Hodges. (Evers and Henderson did nothing all game, by the way - I can forgive an 18-year-old for that but not someone who cost £500,000.)
Despite the changes, we started off quite well, helped by the fact that every time Orient did get an attack one or more of their forwards stepped offside. At the other end, Cureton had several chances to get a debut goal, but either hurried his shots or pulled them wide. His best chance was when the keeper cleared the ball straight to him, but on that occasion he scuffed the shot back and the keeper was able to claim it easily.
Orient tried to cheat to take the lead - standard procedure for Cockneys. They took the ball down the right and put a cross over. (Their fans appealed for a foul by Robinson on the winger, which I couldn't see because there were players in the way, but the ref played on.) The Orient player at the near post punched the ball, deflecting it away from Whitehead, and the one at the far post knocked it in. Fortunately the referee had seen the handball and disallowed the goal.
Rougier was showing skill when he got the ball but I sensed that he wasn't too bothered about the game (something that must also apply to most of the fans at the game, and of course all those that didn't bother to turn up at all!). However Rougier created our goal - that means he's created ALL of our goals this season, by the way. He put over a cross from the left, which the unmarked Cureton headed goalwards. The ball hit the far post and came back. By this time it was already over the line, but none of the Reading fans (we were on the side of the pitch towards the other end of the ground) could tell. The players weren't yet celebrating and we watched as the ball travelled the full width of the goal, seemingly in slow motion. It hit the side netting, so was obviously in, but for some reason we in the seats still didn't react. Then the players started celebrating, the ref blew up, and the away fans cheered. One of the longest gaps between goal and celebration I can ever remember. Cureton had scored a goal on his debut, joining the hallowed ranks of other Reading players managing this feat, such as Keith Scott, and ...errr..... well, there must have been others!
That meant that at half-time we were 1-0 up. Much of the play had been at the end we were attacking and the second half looked promising. However, almost immediately after the restart Orient got a legitimate equaliser. Let's be brutally honest - I can't remember how the move went at all, but the ball got into the back of the net after a low drive from inside the area.
From then on Orient ran the game. We hardly ever got into their half and didn't create another chance all match. At the other end they were raining shots in from all angles. Fortunately they can't shoot very straight and kept missing. They had two really good tries where from long shots the ball just went past the left-hand post with Whitehead beaten. The one time they managed to beat Whitehead and get the ball on target, Matthew Robinson was on the goal-line to clear.
We brought on Joe Gamble for his debut, and Martin Butler to give him a chance to play alongside Cureton. Both subs put in a lot of effort without achieving anything spectacular. The game fizzled out in a 1-1 draw - at least we were attacking when the final whistle came and put us out of our misery.
Anyway, let's face it, Orient have had their chance in this tie. If we can be bothered, we'll beat them comfortably in the second leg.
PS I know that the "winter of discontent" speech comes from the start of Richard III, and that Bosworth Field is at the end of the play, but I just could not see how to fit "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" into the report. Well, not unless I compare Richard III's management ability with that of Tommy Burns, anyway.
News . Opposition . Reserves . Academy . Where Are They Now? . Columns . Kingsley . MadStad . Interactive . Links . Site Map