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2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Sammy Igoe (47 minutes - in first half injury time)
Assist: Nicky Forster
Opposition goal: After 92 minutes (in second half injury time)
Half-time: Reading 1 Bury 0
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 10,035
Referee: David Crick (Worcester Park)

Reading line-up: Phil Whitehead; Graeme Murty, Adie Williams, Adrian Whitbread, Matt Robinson; Sammy Igoe, Keith Jones, James Harper, Alex Smith (Anthony Rougier, 32 minutes); Martin Butler (Darius Henderson, 61 minutes), Nicky Forster (Jamie Cureton, 77 minutes)
Subs not used: Jamie Ashdown, Adi Viveash
Reading yellow cards: Graeme Murty (foul, 58 minutes), Anthony Rougier (foul, 59 minutes), Matt Robinson (foul, 69 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

This was a huge improvement on the Bournemouth game. And it was still absolute shit.

Match notes:

Before the game Darius Henderson received a presentation for scoring Reading's 5,000th League goal.

Alex Smith replaced Henderson in the starting line-up, with Henderson dropping to the bench in place of Neil Smith. Also, Adi Viveash replaced John Mackie on the bench.

Match preview:

So, another home game against a struggling club that Reading will be expected to win comfortably. The dreadful performance in Dorchester on Tuesday might mean more changes to the starting line-up. Bury will surely pack their defence and midfield, whilst looking for no more than a breakaway goal. The key to an entertaining game will be if Reading can get an early goal, and force them to change their tactics.

I wrote before in a preview this season that everybody's place must be under threat with the exception of Phil Whitehead and Graeme Murty. I think the same is true again, although last time we did not see the sweeping changes I had expected. Assuming that he is available one player certain to get a game soon, and maybe against Bury, is Adi Viveash, with the other two Adrian's having looked less than solid in four of the last five League games.

Phil Parkinson will yet again miss a game against his former club. I used to think he did it deliberately but clearly as he serves the last of a three-match suspension, that's not the case this time. I'd like to see Alex Smith back in the side, probably at the expense of the 4-3-3 formation, and I think that if everyone is fit we should go back to the Martin Butler and Jamie Cureton partnership from last season. Nicky Forster can come on as a substitute until he learns how to pass the ball.

I don't have any special knowledge of the Bury side, but they have only won one game all season, and are one of the few teams to have scored less than us, so clearly things are not going well. Last season we did the double over them, with the home match being notable for featuring the only referee all season who was actually biased towards us. We really shouldn't need such help against a team like Bury, though. For this game, the referee is the recently relocated Rob Harris - when he was based in Oxford he wasn't allowed to take charge of our games because he was a local referee. Now that he's moved, he can. Something has got to be wrong there.

Finally, I should just point out that Ron Futcher is now the youth coach at Bury. It's unlikely that he'll be at the game but if you do see him there, make sure he gets loads of abuse.

Ticket information:

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

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