| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 play-off final | Sunday, 27th May (3pm) | Walsall | Cardiff | Lost 2-3 |
(after extra time) |
||||
Reading goals: Cureton, Butler
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 50,496
Reading line-up: Whitehead, Murty,
Robinson, Parkinson, Viveash, A Williams (Hunter), Igoe (Forster),
Harper, Butler, Cureton, McIntyre (Rougier)
Subs not used: Howie, Caskey
When I got into the Millennium Stadium the roof was closed to protect the pitch from the Cardiff drizzle. Unfortunately Football League rules meant that the roof had to be opened, which was a shame because otherwise we might have been present at the first indoor club football match in British history.
Reading started the game well and really should have taken the lead in the first minute but Jamie Cureton lost his footing on the greasy surface when put through on goal. After about 20 minutes we started to lose control of the midfield and when we took the lead it was against the run of play. A James Harper long throw (have we really been hiding that tactic all season just for this game?) fell to Cureton whose shot squirmed past the keeper. Shortly afterwards, a Jim McIntyre header hit the bar.
Walsall equalised early in the second half after the sort of good passing move that we used to see from Reading. There were no further goals in normal time.
Extra time started with a bang as Martin Butler flicked a header into the net against his old team in a move that also began with a Harper long throw. However at the start of the second period, Walsall scored two goals in quick succession. The first was an own goal when a defensive clearance cannoned off Anthony Rougier and into the net, whilst the second was a superb long shot all along the ground that crept inside Phil Whitehead's left hand post.
There was no real point when it looked as if we might get an equaliser as our players seemed to have the stuffing knocked out of them by the own goal. That was despite Walsall playing the last ten minutes with ten men and for a brief period were even down to nine.
Walsall have some very good individual players and generally play well as a team, but there is no way they should have been able to beat us in this game.
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