| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Saturday, 3rd March (3pm) | Rotherham United | Home | Won 2-0 |
Reading goals: Harper, Butler
Gamebreaker: Reading's first goal, given that Rotherham were
already down to ten men
Attendance: 13,103
Reading line-up: Whitehead, Murty,
Robinson, Parkinson, Whitbread, Hunter, Harper, Caskey, Butler,
Cureton, McIntyre (Rougier)
Subs not used: Howie, Mackie, Gurney, Hodges
Like all fans of both sides, I had been really looking forward to this match. It was a great result for Reading, but not really a great game because only one side stepped onto the pitch looking to score goals and take three points. Rotherham's tactics were clearly to play for a 0-0 draw, and to see how many lumps they could kick off our players in the meanwhile. In many ways, this was similar to the Wycombe home game - a set of opponents on a decent run but who come to the MadStad and play like a pub team.
I reckon Mad Dog was up to his tricks of changing the pre-match routine for the players, because the outfield line-up entrered the pitch for the pre-match warm-up from one of the West Stand vomitories rather than via the players' tunnel! I don't know if they'd been doing exercises out in the car park again, or if he was just exploring alternative routes from the dressing room to the pitch. He should take them through the South Stand next time....
The starting eleven showed two changes from the game at Swansea - as expected Barry Hunter came in for the suspended Adi Viveash, but more of a surprise was to see James Harper starting instead of Keith Jones. Jones was not on the bench either so I assumed that he was a flu victim. On the bench, John Mackie took the place vacated by Hunter, and Tony Rougier returned from international duty in place of Sammy Igoe. On Friday, the list of those with the flu bug included Igoe so that might be the reason he was missing.
Rotherham's usual shirts are red, but with a large white content, so they had switched to their change strip. The problem is that this was blue - OK, so it was a light blue but there were still a few occasions early in the game when I found it confusing. Fortunately it was possible to easily distinguish the teams by the massive difference in class.
Reading's game at the start did not really click together, but we still looked pretty comfortable. Harper took a place in the centre of midfield and seemed to be playing the sort of box-to-box role that Sean Evers was meant to take. Evers may have the ability, but hasn't shown it, whilst Harper clearly has pace, skill and most importantly a willingness to get the ball and then look to make something happen.
None of the early attempts on goal threatened - Martin Butler had a shot that the Rotherham goalkeeper had to dive to save but it was an easy save. Rotherham had a free-kick just outside the area that came to nothing after the taker scuffed his boot on the ground just before kicking the ball, and then from a corner they got a shot in that went over the bar after a block. The player who took that shot caught his leg and had to be stretchered off. Later in the game he was transferred into an ambulance at the South-East corner of the ground so it was clearly a bad injury.
Reading's attacks started to come closer to making a breakthrough. After a break, a Jim McIntyre cross from the left found Darren Caskey unmarked at the far post, but he couldn't get the power that he needed onto his header and it was easily held by the goalkeeper. Then a hopeful long ball from defence was completely misjudged by the Rotherham centre-backs and nearly fell for Jamie Cureton. He never quite managed to get into position for a clear shot, and the ball was eventually scrambled away for a corner. From one of the corners that we had at this stage of the game, the Rotherham keeper showed his frailty by dropping a simple cross but again we were unable to take advantage.
Rotherham got another free kick on the edge of the penalty area during a rare foray to the other end, but this time hit the ball into the wall.
There was time for another Caskey header to go wide of the goal before we reached the incident that probably had the most effect on the game. We were attacking down the left with Jim McIntyre on the edge of the penalty area and Matthew Robinson looking to be available for an overlap. A Rotherham player came over and elbowed McIntyre out the way, and the referee blew for a free-kick. The ball squirted off to the touchline in front of the Maurice Evans Stand, and both Robinson and a second Rotherham player went to retrive it. I missed what happened next but then saw the two players lying on the ground with Robinson underneath, and the Rotherham player hitting him in the head with an elbow. Fortunately the referee also saw this incident and immediately showed the red card.
Incredibly the Rotherham player disputed this - he tried to head-butt Martin Butler but did not make good contact, and then picked arguments with a series of other Reading players as he slowly left the field. In Scotland they show additional red cards to players who act like this so that they get an extra suspension - this was certainly one of those occasions where the referee should have done so here (if he's allowed to, which I'm not sure about). The Rotherham player who committed the first foul was also booked although I don't know if this was for the foul or something else that happened.
With Rotherham down to ten men, it was even more clear how they were going to play the remainder of the game. In the 15 minutes before half-time we saw some of the most blatant time-wasting tactics that you could ever see. The referee let them get away with it but he did add five minutes extra at the end of the half.
I was really hoping that we could get a goal in the first half, because the interval would allow the Rotherham manager to attempt to reorganise his side. (They had already had to switch formation from 10-0-0 to 9-0-0, of course! Or perhaps that's a little unfair.) However, the attacking moves that we did have didn't produce a goal. We had one fantastic chance when a corner from the right was flicked on to Butler at the far post. The goalkeeper just got a slight touch as the ball went over him, which put Butler off sufficiently that his header from three yards out went over the bar. A few minutes before that, Butler had also managed a shot from a dangerous position but it was well over the goal.
At half-time we had the latest competition for the Weakest Stand. "What is the name of the player Reading signed from Arsenal earlier this week?" (Long pause) "You've been watching him for the last 45 minutes." "James Taylor." Unbelievable. Even the away fans knew the answer - perhaps because it was up on the scoreboard - and were trying to shout it out to him. I'll accept the excuse that he panicked in front of a big crowd.
If Rotherham had made any major changes at half-time then I couldn't see it, but they were clearly defending even more deeply. It took several minutes before the ball even went into our half, and then it was only from a punted clearance. We had a half-hearted appeal for a penalty when Jamie Cureton went through and looked to be about to shoot when suddenly the ball wasn't there any more. I think he was claiming handball but it was the wrong end for me to be sure, and the officials certainly didn't give it.
Rotherham then had their one dangerous attack of the entire ninety minutes. They took the ball down the left wing and put over a curling cross. It was over Phil Whitehead's head and as if in slow motion looked as if it was going in. Fortunately the ball just curled beyond the far post, although the danger still wasn't over as another player tried to head it back goalwards. The angle was very tight, but in any event he didn't even come close to getting the ball on target.
I don't know if that narrow escape shook Reading a little because we really did seem to move up a gear after that point. Graeme Murty and Darren Caskey had been making good runs down the right most of the game, but they were now finding more space and getting into good crossing positions. Sadly, some of the crosses weren't good enough, though. In the middle of the pitch, Phil Parkinson was winning the ball on almost every occasion, whilst Harper was providing good link play with both wings to keep the attacks coming.
Rotherham decided to substitute their Reading reject forward. Although it was obviously tactical he pretended to be injured and therefore hobbled the full width of the pitch in what has to be the longest substitution in football history. He took so long that the referee could have legitimately booked him twice for time-wasting during that period, but instead the referee let him take as long as he wanted. Given the time added on to the first half, I was however fairly confident that the referee would play the extra at the end of this half, too.
With half-an-hour or so to go, Reading got a corner on the right which Jim McIntyre took. It was cleared for another corner from the same side. This time, McIntyre's cross was headed out to the edge of the area where James Harper fired it back through a crowd of players and into the net. 1-0 and the first goal for a Reading player on his debut since Jamie Cureton at Leyton Orient earlier this season (Keith Scott also managed this at home to Manchester City, so I won't follow the analogy too far).
You might have thought that now they were behind Rotherham would start playing in a more attacking way, but they didn't . I think their plan was probably to try to hold on to the one-goal deficit until 10 or fifteen minutes to go, and then try to pinch an equaliser. That was probably quite smart, as if they had swarmed forward we would have easily caught them on the break and got a big win.
Because Rotherham were still defending Reading managed to get more corners but nothing came from them. Anthony Rougier came on for McIntyre, who had played well. It's possible that McIntyre was suffering from the flu as he was one of those named last week, but also I think Pardew likes Rougier's ability to hold the ball up and retain possession when defending a lead.
As the game got nearer to the end, Rotherham got a little more ambitious and did have some vague chances. A very weak shot was comfortably saved by Whitehead but it was a good opportunity had a decent striker been around. They also benefited from two ludicrous offside decisions where players clearly a yard or more offside were allowed to continue their run. In both cases, they failed to even get a shot in, though.
A lot of our attacking play was still coming down the right, and a cross from Graeme Murty was missed by the keeper and only just headed out from under the bar by a defender as one of our forwards came in at the far post. With a few minutes left, another attack on the right was halted only by Rotherham barging Murty off the ball. Caskey took the free-kick before the referee was ready, but at the second attempt he found Martin Butler at the far post who was easily able to outjump his marker and loop a header back into the right-hand top corner.
"You might as well go home", we sang to the Rotherham fans, most of whom were doing just that. At 2-0 there was no way back, and both sides really just played out time. Murty had a shot that went just over the angle between post and cross bar, and the fourth official showed a rather small three minutes of stoppage time.
With about 30 seconds to go, a Rotherham player made a good turn in our penalty area and was in a position to put over a dangerous cross. Instead of doing so he decided to aim what I can only describe as a karate chop to Adrian Whitbread's windpipe. This could only be a petulant attack borne out of frustration at coming up against such a superior team. For some reason, the referee only showed a yellow card but as the player had already had one earlier in the game that meant a second sending-off. Amazingly, he complained bitterly about the decision - I assume that the reason Rotherham are near the top of the table is because they have been doing this sort of thing all season and getting away with it. On today's showing it certainly has nothing to do with their footballing ability.
At the final whistle, Phil Whitehead raised his arms in triumph at the away fans, something that he never does and which must have been frustration at the way Rotherham had played. Whilst the Reading players tried to applaud the home fans, various Rotherham players were roaming the field looking to dish out yet more verbal and physical abuse. Whitbread was on the receiving end of so much of this that one of our coaching staff had to lead him off the field. The officials chose to take no action.
If we ever have to play this bunch of crooked cheats again, it will be too soon. Rotherham are a disgrace to this division and to football in general. They are still ahead of us in the table, even if it is only because they have played one more home game, but there is surely no way that can continue.
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