1871 - the ultimate Reading FC website

2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Nicky Forster (8 minutes)
Assist: Adie Williams
Opposition goals: None
Half-time: Reading 1 Huddersfield Town 0
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 11,915
Referee: Alan Butler (Sutton-in-Ashfield)

Reading line-up: Phil Whitehead; Graeme Murty, Adrian Whitbread, Adie Williams, Matthew Robinson; Andy Hughes (Sammy Igoe, 15 minutes), Phil Parkinson, James Harper, Alex Smith; Nicky Forster, Anthony Rougier (Darius Henderson, 64 minutes)
Subs not used: Jamie Ashdown, Adi Viveash, Nicky Shorey
Reading yellow cards: Sammy Igoe (time-wasting, 43 minutes), Adie Williams (foul, 92 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

Despite my hopes, Martin Butler was not fit to start this game, and his place was taken by Anthony Rougier. Other than that, Reading put out the same team and formation as at Blackpool last week.

The early signs were promising - we won a corner after about ten minutes, which Huddersfield could only clear for a second corner. From the second one, we took the lead with a well-worked planned move. A near-post flick-on found Nicky Forster at the far post who smashed the ball home.

Perhaps the first sign that things were going wrong were when Andy Hughes went off a few minutes later. In his short time on the pitch, he had appeared to play well, and the last action was a fiercely driven cross from him that caused some worry in the Huddersfield defence. His replacement was Sammy Igoe.

Huddersfield had a good chance to equalise when their tall centre-forward won a header around the penalty spot, with Phil Whitehead out of position. However, he managed to head the ball over the bar with the goalmouth gaping.

After that we had another chance at a right-wing corner. Again Huddersfield cleared our first corner but only at the expense of a second. The second one found its way to Forster at the back post. He played the ball back across goal where Phil Parkinson's diving header somehow managed to hit the ground and bounce over the goal. A few minutes later, Forster forced a good diving save from the keeper, but the resulting corner was cleared.

Before half-time Huddesrfield started to apply a little pressure, and had two really good chances to equalise. We were fortunate to stop the first when a hard shot was just deflected over the bar by an onrushing defender. The second one was a shot that went just wide.

At half-time we had the lead, even if the play had not been very inspiring. During the interval, the two Reading FC journalists from the main local papers had a "hit the crossbar" competition, in which they came not even close to doing so. The replacement Kingsley Royal managed the feat but only after a large number of attempts.

The second half was extremely odd - you would expect that Huddersfield would throw people forward to try to get an equaliser but there were times when they almost seemed to have settled for a one goal defeat. Much of the play was incredibly scrappy - the away fans will assume that this is standard Division 2 fare, but I don't remember seeing much last season that was as poor. Because Huddesfield didn't push forward, we didn't get the space to counter-attack and didn't seem too interested in forcing the issue. For this reason, there was really very little of note to report on for most of the half.

In the first 30 minutes, the only incidents I can really recall were that Whitehead had to make a decent save diving to his left to keep out a long shot, and Reading managed one of the worst free-kicks of all time. We passed the ball to a player who wasn't ready, his tame shot went straight to a defender who bizarrely passed it back to another of our players who in turn mishit his shot.

We also had a half-hearted penalty appeal when Alex Smith went down in the area - I thought he probably did get tripped, but he was already on his way down so it seemed that the referee made the right decision. He also correctly ignored the Huddersfield appeal when a hard-hit cross hit Matthew Robinson's arm from a distance of about two yards.

Darius Henderson replaced Anthony Rougier, and after that things did seem to shake up a bit. Henderson won several good headers that he laid off to Forster, and seemed to cause the defence problems. However, his play on the ground was not good and he also didn't chase defenders down as much as he should have done. He certainly got more involved in the game than Rougier had done, though.

We had one chance to seal the win near the end, when Forster lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper and it looked as though it must go in. As it was, the ball went harmlessly wide, and it might even have been intended as a cross, although neither Igoe nor Henderson had any real chance to get there.

This game was a huge disappointment, except for one thing - we got the three points! And really, that's all that matters. Given that Reading and Huddersfield are supposedly two of the better sides in the division, I had expected an exciting match, but that never really materialised. There also didn't look to be a great deal of quality on show. Obviously I know Reading can play much better than this, and I suspect much the same is true of Huddersfield.

Match notes:

Compared to the last game against Blackpool the team changes were Anthony Rougier for the injured Martin Butler in the starting line-up, and Nicky Shorey for Joe Gamble on the subs bench. Andy Hughes and Alex Smith made their home League debuts for Reading.

The result leaves Reading as one of only four clubs in the division with a 100% record, and the only club not to have conceded a goal.

Match preview:

Before the season started, Reading and Huddersfield were joint favourites to win the division with most bookmakers. Although odds are not just based on probabilities but also on how much money will be placed on a side, it's still clear that this is a big match. Since relegation last season, Huddersfield have been in turmoil. The chairman is trying to sell up, but the likely new buyers are taking a long long time to finalise the deal. Meanwhile the chairman appears to be trying to cash in on the few remaining assets. Some players have already been sold, and last week it looked as if Cardiff City were trying to take two more, Chris Lucketti and Andy Booth. Even worse from their point of view is the fact that the chairman hadn't even told the manager that Cardiff were speaking to the players concerned!

The double switch to Cardiff broke down, and it appears that we will face both players. Although public statements on these matters are often diplomacy rather than truth, it seems that Lucketti did not want to move as his wife is eight months pregnant and they have just settled into a new home in Rochdale. Cardiff then said they did not want to buy Booth on his own and the deal collapsed.

Booth is an interesting player - he was purchased last season as the returning hero to score the goals that would keep them in Division 1, and obviously failed to do so. He is rumoured to be the highest paid player in Divison 2 at £9,000 a week. He also said earlier this week (about £4,000 ago) that he didn't expect to ever leave Huddersfield again. He is also playing with an injury but is still capable of normally winning a lot of headers - the question is whether the other Huddersfield players are good enough to be in the right place to profit from that.

Apart from friendlies, this game will see the first use of Huddersfield's new away strip. I hear that the shorts are very very very long - apparently the players roll them up at the top to improve matters, but they're still too long. It's as well that Sammy Igoe doesn't play for them. One final point about Huddersfield - their manager is Lou Macari, formerly of Swindon just in case anyone had forgotten. If you want to know how we're going to do, I suggest following him on Saturday morning and seeing what bets he places.

Of far more interest than the above is what line-up Reading will be able to pout out. The defence and midfield will presumably be the same as against Blackpool, with Nicky Forster up front. We can assume that Jamie Cureton will still be out, but Martin Butler was also only considered 50-50 for the game earlier in the week following a recurrence of his ankle problem. I would expect him to play if at all possible - if he does need rest it's more likely to come next week, I think. In Butler's absence, Anthony Rougier would normally step in but he is also still recovering from injury, leaving Darius Henderson as the next option. However, after a good performance in the reserves on Wednesday Nathan Tyson may also be in with a shout, especially if the Huddersfield centre-backs are good in the air and not too quick (I realise that a professional preview would probably tell you who the centre-backs were going to be and what were their strengths, but I'm afraid I don't know!).

The attendances in Reading's last five home games have been 16,829, 16,710, 20,589, 22,034 and 21,874. Obviously there were some important end-of-season games in there (and a kid-for-a-quid offer!) but that's still pretty impressive for any Division 2 side, and something that only Manchester City have bettered at any time in the last few seasons. Hopefully, this match against Huddersfield will see a similarly high attendance, and if we can play to our abilities and take the three points, we should expect to see most of them back for the next game.

Ticket information:

Prices and details are the same as for standard home games, and are available here.

Home . First Team Index

News . Opposition . Reserves . Academy . Where Are They Now? . Columns . Kingsley . MadStad . Interactive . Links . Site Map