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2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Alex Smith (32 minutes)
Assists: Jamie Cureton (initial shot before ball was parried by goalkeeper)
Opposition goals: After 11 and 35 minutes
Half-time: Reading 1 Cardiff City 2
Gamebreaker: Sending-off of Phil Parkinson
Attendance: 13,017
Referee: David Pugh (Wirral)

Reading line-up: Phil Whitehead; Graeme Murty, Adie Williams, Adrian Whitbread, Matthew Robinson; Sammy Igoe, James Harper, Phil Parkinson, Alex Smith (Martin Butler, 57 minutes); Jamie Cureton, Anthony Rougier (Darius Henderson, 72 minutes)
Subs not used: Jamie Ashdown, Adi Viveash, Keith Jones
Reading yellow cards: James Harper (dissent, 11 minutes), Adrian Williams (foul?, 22 minutes), Anthony Rougier (persistent fouling?, 53 minutes)
Reading red cards: Phil Parkinson (foul, 82 minutes)

Match report:

Well, my overall assessment of this game is that Cardiff were rubbish, we were far worse, and the referee was somewhere inbetween.

Alan Pardew made the first mistake of the day by starting Anthony Rougier instead of Martin Butler. Butler played 90 minutes during the week so was clearly able to start this game, and even if he had to come off later Rougier would be a better bet from the bench.

Our team was therefore the same as against Port Vale, but the opposition were rather different. Cardiff showed from early on that they had one clear tactic, which was to hoist long balls in the direction of their tall centre-forward. Disappointingly he was able to beat Adie Williams most of the time. The Cardiff gameplan was helped enormously by a fussy referee who gave free-kicks for anything and nothing, allowing one dead ball after another to be hoofed forward into our area.

From one of these, Cardiff got the ball in the net but it was disallowed for offside. The player who put the ball in the net was clearly all on his own when he headed it in (and with the benefit of a TV replay, I now know that he was indeed offside when the ball was played). It was however a sign of what was to come.

Only a few minutes after that incident Cardiff won an extremely dubious free-kick about 25 yards out. James Harper foolishly told the referee what he thought of the poor decision and got booked. Because of his dissent the ball was then moved forward to the edge of the penalty area. Phil Whitehead got a hand to the free-kick itself, but was only able to push it onto the post where it rebounded nicely for a Cardiff forward to put it in. None of our defenders had reacted quickly enough (or at all) so he was in acres of space and couldn't miss.

In another incident in our goalmouth, Whitehead managed to drop the ball twice before it was scrambled clear after another hoisted long ball into the area. We were having enormously difficulty dealing with these really basic tactics, and it does not bode well for the visit of Cambridge United next week. More than once I was thinking that Barry Hunter would have dealt better with the Cardiff forwards than either Williams or Adrian Whitbread were managing, but there was obviously no reason to change the defence before this game started.

The game did seem to change character halfway through the half. Perhaps Cardiff sat back, but we were getting more into the game. We were passing the ball around without ever really looking threatening, but it still felt as if we might get back into the game. Jamie Cureton had a header tipped onto the bar but in any event he looked offside.

And indeed our equaliser came from a fine footballing move. Graeme Murty received the ball just inside the Cardiff half, controlled it beautifully and, as he does so often, looked to get forward with the ball. He then threaded a lovely pass through the defence for Cureton to run onto. I would normally expect Cureton to score from this sort of opportunity but although the Cardiff keeper made a save, he was only able to parry the ball back out to Alex Smith who lifted it back over him and into the net.

We totally failed to capitalise on this and instead went onto the back foot again. Fairly soon Cardiff retook the lead with a glancing header from a corner, which went in at the far post despite James Harper's attempt at a goal-line clearance. Harper should instead have just caught the ball and drop-kicked it upfield - the referee would probably have missed the infringement.

It could have been worse when another Cardiff free-kick hit the post. Whitehead got over to the post to cover it, but then just left the ball alone. We were luckier this time because the rebound went nowhere dangerous.

In the second half, we hit the same post when a long Sammy Igoe snapshot beat the keeper and spun back across the goal-line. Martin Butler (by this time on for Smith) was unable to get to the rebound and a defender cleared.

At half-time I had said that if we continued to play football we would win the game. However, we failed to do this, and were not helped by the referee finding some infringement or other every 30 seconds, so that neither team had any chance to get any rhythm going. In fact, as the game went on we resorted more to hoofing whilst Cardiff passed the ball around a little.

We nearly went further behind when Cardiff split open our defence and suddenly seemed to have three or four men bearing down on goal. Murty appeared from nowhere and was able to dispossess them somehow. Whenever that sort of thing happens, it's always Murty who's there to clear up.

We only really had one half-chance to equalise, which came from one of our many corners. Most of the corners were a complete waste as Sammy Igoe's delivery was poor, but on this occasion the ball fell to Whitbread on the penalty spot. He hooked the ball just over the angle of post and bar with the Cardiff keeper rooted to the spot. To be honest, I doubt if Whitbread really knew where the ball was going - he was just trying to get it back into the danger area.

Ten minutes from time, our task was made more difficult when Phil Parkinson was sent off after an aerial challenge. From my angle there didn't look to be anything wrong, but that's because I couldn't see his leading elbow. It's a shame that one of the few decisions the referee got right went against us, particularly after two Cardiff players had escaped with bookings for very bad challenges on Whitbread and Rougier respectively. In the aftermath of the Parkinson foul, one of the Cardiff players pushed him over, an action that would normally result in a red card but instead was deemed worthy only of yellow.

We did get a chance to see a Butler free-kick from just outside the area, but the angle was tight and he was only able to kick it into the wall. Then a Cardiff player who had already been booked blocked one of our free-kicks in our own half. Instead of getting his second yellow card, the referee waved play on!

The final insult came in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Darius Henderson was clearly held down in the penalty area, and both referee and linesman (who had a perfect view) chose to ignore it.

When the final whistle did go, we had lost our first home game since Bristol City visited in March. The real reason for the defeat was that we played so poorly against a team we are capable of beating comfortably. Although the referee has to take the blame for ruining what might have been a decent match, it is not clear that he influenced the result.

Match notes:

Reading had the same starting line-up as for the Port Vale game, but Keith Jones replaced Andy Hughes on the bench.

The first Cardiff goal was the first we had conceded all season, the longest time that Reading have gone without letting a goal in at the start of a season (but well short of the club record of 1103 minutes set by Steve Death in 1979).

Match preview:

Of course, no one in Reading is looking forward to this match. That has absolutely nothing to do with worrying about the team that Cardiff City will put out on the pitch, but everything to do with that portion of their following who might be described as "brain-limited". Their last two visits were sufficiently shocking that there could be no valid argument against banning their fans from our ground completely. For this game, even the Cardiff Supporters Club issued veiled threats of violence in order to try to get some more tickets for the away end. I would hope that we can avoid having to play host to them ever again.

The game should be a different affair. Reading's record this season is near perfect. We have yet to concede a goal and the only points dropped were due to an error by a linesman and referee. The supporters of other teams around the division are already starting to talk as if there is no point them turning up to play against us. Obviously that isn't really true, but the longer we can appear invincible the better it will be.

This contrasts nicely with Cardiff's away record. In their last seven away games (League and League Cup, including games at the end of last season) they have failed to win whilst only managing two draws. And five of those games were against Division 3 sides.

After last week's exhibition match at Port Vale, Reading are unlikely to make too many changes. If Martin Butler is fit to start, then I am sure that he will come in for Anthony Rougier. Otherwise, the only question mark is whether Sammy Igoe will continue to keep out Andy Hughes, and I would think that Igoe has done enough to stay in the side.

There are a few potential reunions on the pitch. We gave away Jason Bowen, Andy Legg and Paul Brayson (48 games as a striker, 1 goal) to Cardiff whilst James Harper played there on loan. Harper rejected the chance to stay at Cardiff so might get an even more hostile reception than everyone else. Bowen is apparently injured and Brayson (obviously) is not normally good enough for the first team, although there is a chance he will play if the normal forward is genuinely injured. Andy Legg is out-of-form but played an absolutely superb game the last time Cardiff visited Reading, showing more quality than he ever did whilst playing for us. His long throws caused us problems then, as well, but I think that our current defence is more able to deal with that threat. Hopefully that game in March 2000 got all the perceived injustice out of his system, and he will be back to his normal average game.

Although Cardiff spent a lot of money over the summer, and their fans thought they would walk this division, reality has begun to set in. They're probably going to be a top ten side, and perhaps better than that if they finally manage to buy a decent striker, but we ought to be good enough to continue our run and get all three points.

Ticket information:

This game is all-ticket for all fans, and no tickets will be available on the day. Prices and other information are the same as for other home games, and are available here.

Of course, in practice any away fans turning up on the day will be allowed to pay to get in as the local police manage their usual panicky, headless chicken act. They will however presumably keep up the normal practice of refusing to allow home fans to do the same.

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