| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Tuesday, 6th March (7.45pm) | Wycombe Wanderers | Away | Drew 1-1 |
Reading goal: Igoe
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 6,788
Reading line-up: Whitehead, Murty,
Robinson, Parkinson, Whitbread, Viveash (Igoe), Newman (Hodges),
Caskey, Butler, Cureton (Rougier), McIntyre
Subs not used: Howie, Hunter
Well, I wouldn't normally begin an away match report by reproducing part of the home club's match programme, but the column written by Wycombe director (and Sky Sports commentator) Alan Parry is just so bitter and twisted that it deserves a wider audience. Here are some lowlights:
"I remember the fixture at their place back in October, It was a game influenced by a referee who couldn't even get the kick-off right - Reading started the game when it should have been Wycombe. The official started badly and fell away, allowing bad tackles to go unpunished and then deciding to show a pack of yellow cards for relatively minor offences. We had a player sent off and conceded a goal from a free-kick that should never have been awarded. Reading fans will no doubt see my comments as sour grapes [yep!], but I felt that their big partisan crowd swayed the referee's judgement on several occasions. With a stronger and more experienced referee we would probably have got the draw we deserved."
Actually there's a load more that would be worth reproducing but I think my website is tarnished enough by including the paragraph above. I trust that Alan Pardew made sure that our players saw Parry's comments before the game, as I'm sure they'd have been none too impressed that our hard-fought victory against a team that came to Reading just to foul and time-waste, rather than to play football, was apparently down just to the referee.
I was at the ground before the Reading team coach so I saw our players arrive. The significant missing person was James Harper, which pretty well confirmed that he wasn't going to play. As it turned out, Ricky Newman took his place with Adi Viveash playing in place of the unlucky Barry Hunter, who dropped to the bench. That's both the previously suspended players straight back in the starting line-up, incidentally. Keith Jones made the trip but was restricted to jogging round the pitch a few times during the warm-up rather than a place in the squad of sixteen.
Reading got off to a good start without making too many chances. Our first real attempt was halfway through the half from a superb move involving Jim McIntyre, Darren Caskey and Martin Butler. It ended with a shot just past the post from Butler. Wycombe's first decent attack saw a through ball which left Phil Whitehead facing two of their players with no Reading defenders anywhere in sight. Fortunately Whitehead was able to get to the ball first and dive on it at the first attacker's feet.
Wycombe scored first - they had a free-kick on the left but Caskey jumped forward and blocked it. Although many Reading fans were annoyed with the referee over this, he got that much right. Caskey was back ten yards as teh kick was about to be taken but then walked and jumped forward as the ball was actually kicked. Caskey was booked and the referee took the ball forward - now this was the bit we should have been up in arms about as he took it forward about 15 yards. The Wycombe free-kick taker took one look at our wall and hit the ball to the left of it, where it crept inside the post with Whitehead only able to help the ball on its way. I think the wall was in the wrong place, which must be down to the keeper.
Just before half-time Reading looked to have a clear penalty turned down. McIntyre broke into the area, took the ball round the goalkeeper and was upended. I have heard people say that he wasn't going to get to the ball anyway - well, that might have been an argument for not showing the Wycombe goalkeeper a red card, but it doesn't stop it being a foul! In the referee's defence, this incident was at the far end of the ground, but it looked blatant to me.
Reading started the second half like a house on fire but that didn't last too long. We had one excellent chance in this period when Martin Butler took the ball round the Wycombe goalkeeper (without being fouled) but was too wide to shoot. The defence managed to clear his cross before Jamie Cureton could get there.
Wycombe had a couple of chances in the half, with attacks on the break. One was a very easy chance and a real let-off as their player shot wide with only Whitehead to beat. Later in the half they also had a shot that flashed across the face of the goal with no-one able to get a touch. However, they spent most of the half trying to waste time.
Reading's chances seemed to fall in the wrong places. Matthew Robinson got a shot in but had to take it with his right foot, whilst Phil Parkinson gathered the ball at one stage going past two defenders but then had to shoot with his left. Lee Hodges also managed a shot, but it was tame and no threat to get as far as the net. We also had a penalty appeal when a McIntyre cross went off for a corner after hitting the arm of a Wycombe defender - I've seen them given but it would have been harsh.
With just a few minutes left the Reading pressure finally paid off, as a move started down the left wing by McIntyre ended with Sammy Igoe (on the pitch for about one minute) prodded the ball home after a scramble that saw the Wycombe goalkeeper and one defender end up in the back of the net with the ball.
There was still time for Whitehead to slice an attempted clearance behind for a corner when it could easily have been an own goal, but Wycombe made nothing of it. Reading's last attack ended prematurely with the final whistle.
This was probably Jim McIntyre's best game for Reading, as he was able to beat the right-back with ease all night and put over some dangerous crosses. Overall, Reading were by far the better team, but didn't take the chances we created. One other bright sign was that Alan Pardew used all his three substitutes in an attempt to get something out of the game. The last of these was to take off centre-back Adi Viveash and bring on Sammy Igoe, and it was this adventurous decision that proved significant in getting us a share of the points.
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