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2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goals: Nicky Forster (56 minutes), John Salako (78 minutes)
Assists: Graeme Murty, Sammy Igoe
Opposition goals: After 29 and 67 minutes
Half-time: Cardiff City 1 Reading 0
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 16,708
Weather: Cold but dry and mostly sunny
Referee: Dermot Gallagher (Banbury)

Reading line-up: 31 Marcus Hahnemann; 2 Graeme Murty, 8 Adie Williams, 23 John Mackie, 28 Nicky Shorey; 14 Sammy Igoe, 15 James Harper, 16 Phil Parkinson, 29 John Salako; 10 Nicky Forster, 7 Anthony Rougier, (11 Andy Hughes, 79 minutes)
Subs not used: 21 Jamie Ashdown, 26 Alex Smith, 12 Jamie Cureton, 22 Nathan Tyson
Reading yellow cards: Nicky Shorey ("being tripped", 49 minutes), Phil Parkinson (foul, 76 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

Now, after recent performances I was expecting that we would get absolutely hammered in this game. The only reason for hope that I could think of was that if Cardiff were below us in the table having played more games, then they really couldn't be any good. However, there were more reasons for optimism in the Reading team line-up. Four changes from the Wigan game showed that Alan Pardew had decided to take action against some players who had not been performing well recently. I was surprised that Neil Smith had dropped right out of the squad but he has apparently picked up an injury.

Reading started the game very brightly, and the home side didn't really seem to know what to do about it. Although we were the better side in the first 20 minutes, the Cardiff keeper had only to make one save, a dive to his left to keep out a low shot from Nicky Forster. The other noticable feature of the opening period was a series of poor decisions from the referee and from the linesman at our end. Throw-ins were given the wrong way, free-kicks were invented, Cardiff players were not booked for diving in the penalty area, and so on. Not all the incorrect decisions were against us, I hasten to add, but the linesman was obviously intimidated by the Cardiff crowd standing behind him (in a seated area).

Cardiff had come more into the game, and at times had possession for long passing moves without actually threatening our goal. Our passing was more direct, aimed at quick breaks and in one of these after about half-an-hour, Forster picked the ball up on the right wing and ran across the edge of the penalty area. He was presumably trying to work the ball onto his right foot to get a chance to shoot (obviously no-one was expecting a pass!) but instead he lost the ball. Cardiff broke down the other end, and although we had five defenders in the penalty area, their forward was able to cut into the area and shoot the ball inside the near post and under the dive of Marcus Hahnemann for the opening goal. It was a good shot, but you couldn't help but feel that it was a soft goal to give away, particularly when it stemmed from our attack!

Reading didn't react by collapsing, but also we seemed surprisingly unconcerned about going behind. There was no greater urgency in our game at this stage - it was more as if we wanted to continue to play calmly in an attempt to get the goal back. I'm not sure whether I appreciate this or not. Before half-time, the Cardiff keeper did have to make another decent save, this time from a John Salako shot.

At the start of the second half, Nicky Shorey went on a mazy run before being tripped on the edge of the penalty area. A decent chance, we thought, as the ref flourished the yellow card. The defender who tripped Shorey tried to stop us getting the ball and taking the kick, and I was calling for him to be sent off before I suddenly realised that the referee had actually booked Shorey for diving and given the free-kick to Cardiff!! Absolutely unbelievable. The linesman, who had a side view of the incident, should have known what had really happened but made no effort to change things. Of course, Shorey then had to spend the rest of the game careful not to get fouled again, because then he would have been sent off.........

Forster had a great chance to equalise when he spooned an Anthony Rougier cross over the bar, but made up for it a few minutes later when he deflected a Graeme Murty cross over the Cardiff goalkeeper. Whether Forster knew anything much about it, I couldn't tell. In fact, I wasn't absolutely sure whether Forster or a defender had got the touch, but both Forster and Murty seemed to be claiming the credit.

Overall, we had still played the better football, and were not surrendering possession in midfield as much as in previous games. Both Rougier and Murty were able to attack at will down the Cardiff left in the second half, but the home side's attacks also looked dangerous as their one pacy forward gave both John Mackie and Adie Williams problems.

After only about ten minutes of the scores being level, Cardiff took the lead with another soft goal. They were given a free-kick on our right when it was clearly Rougier being fouled, but as it was in their own half should not have given us problems. Instead they played it forward and swung a cross that went over everyone. Both Hahnemann and a defender rushed out without getting anywhere near the ball, allowing a Cardiff substitute who shall remain nameless to lob the ball back over our keeper where a Cardiff forward prodded it into the goal. The tannoy announcer made a schoolboy error in awarding the goal to someone who cannot possibly score......

The next talking point came when Phil Parkinson was booked for fouling a Cardiff player, whilst the Cardiff player was also booked - his crime was attempting to elbow Parkinson and then successfully kicking him when he was on the ground. Only the cretin in charge of this game would see such an incident and fail to produce a red card. However, Parkinson lets us down in these situations - he should have walked away after the initial foul rather than attempting to give out a little bit of afters.

A minute later, it was essentially forgotten, though, when Sammy Igoe crossed the ball into the box, all the defenders missed it and John Salako struck the ball home. 2-2, and that's now four soft goals in the game. Obviously our excuse is that we only have four fit defenders left, plus our goalkeeper out injured - I wonder what Cardiff's excuse is?

Neither side threw caution to the wind searching for a winner, although Cardiff brought on the player who scored both their goals at Madejski Stadium following an injury to a forward (and a five minute stoppage). That meant they now won everything in the air, but none of his headers came to anything.

Our last chance came when Forster and substitute Andy Hughes messed up a break, allowing a defender to intercept the final ball. Based on his standard of crossing in previous games, I can't say that I would have expected Hughes to be able to score in such a situation anyway.

When the final whistle went after six minutes of injury time (and to be honest, I thought there should have been rather more than that), I was disappointed that we hadn't got something more out of the game. I couldn't help thinking that Rotherham last season would have won a game like this, probably with an injury time goal.

However, this was certainly our best performance for over a month, and something we should be able to build on. Rougier played well for the whole time he was on the pitch, which is good to see, whilst Parkinson and Harper in midfield came closer to doing what we want to see in that area. I'm not at all convinced by Hahnemann, and we don't seem to profit at all from his long kicks or throws.

Match notes:

There were four changes from the starting line-up in the Wigan home game, with James Harper and Phil Parkinson coming in for Neil Smith and Keith Jones (both of whom weren't even on the bench), plus Anthony Rougier started instead of Jamie Cureton and Sammy Igoe replaced Andy Hughes. However, Harper for Neil Smith was the only change compared to the end of the Wigan game and that was due to injury.

Match preview:

Although a lot of talk about Cardiff City this season seems to have them as certainties for promotion, let's not forget that they are currently below us in the table having played more games. And we know how badly Reading have played at times, so Cardiff really can't be that good. At the moment, Cardiff fans are definitely distracted by the forthcoming FA Cup tie against Leeds, and if we're lucky the players will be thinking the same way.

Cardiff play a 4-2-2-2 formation designed to give them control of midfield, but if they've had scouts at our last few games they'll know that they can control midfield with a 4-1-0-5 formation so they may well change a few things. The weakness of their standard formation is that they can be vulnerable down the flanks. That would mean we might hope for great things in this game from John Salako and Andy Hughes. Well, great things down the left wing any way.

There aren't too many options for changes in the Reading line-up. The only possible alterations in personnel would be the three substitutions made on Saturday (Rougier for Cureton, Parkinson for Jones, Igoe for Hughes) or to bring in James Harper against the club where he once played on loan. There must surely come a time when Hughes is dropped - he might finally have had his last chance against Wigan, and so we might see Sammy Igoe for this game. If so, then that would give us more chance to attack, given what I said about the home side's expected formation. I'd be surprised to see Anthony Rougier start, but Alan Pardew will of course have noted that he showed effort as well as skill for his 45 minutes on Saturday, and so he might get another chance. If so, he might even get to take any penalties we are awarded.

Cardiff have three Reading rejects - Andy Legg, Jason Bowen and Paul Brayson - all of whom have shown considerably more ability playing against us than they ever did whilst at Reading. From what I can tell, Legg is likely to be on the bench, with either Brayson or Bowen playing behind the front two (and the other on the bench).

Recently, Pardew said that Reading were the only side in the division to attempt to win every game. I know what he means - we don't settle for draws away from home. You can see the benefit of this by looking at the League table, and noticing that Reading have drawn far fewer games than other sides near the top of the table. It will be interesting to see if we adopt the same attitude in Cardiff. Of course, the problem is that we are also the only side in the division to attempt to win every game by only one goal, leaving us vulnerable to losing leads.

As described in the ticket section below, the away end is covered, which should allow for a better atmosphere for Reading fans. Of course, watching a game at Ninian Park always leaves the undercurrent of wondering what the subhuman supporters of the home side will get up to. Already this season, there have been attempted attacks on away fans coaches, plus the inevitable throwing of missiles at fans in the ground (including by those not at the match). This is of course considered perfectly normal behaviour from the sort of club where one of their Supporters Club Committee was involved in a police incident on the way back from their last away game involving two of his own team's supporters, an incident which has led to his resignation.

Of course, there will be those who will point out that not all Cardiff fans are like this, and they would be correct to do so. If you do happen to meet either of the two decent Cardiff fans on Boxing Day, consider it to be a good omen.

Ticket information:

Since we last visited Cardiff, the away end at Ninian Park has been covered. For most games away fans get about 2,000 terrace spaces and the remainder of the terrace is used by home fans. At the start of the season, Cardiff said that there would be a small number of games where the away fans would get the entire terrace (holding about 4,000) and that one of those games would be the visit of Reading.

However, after the Thames Valley Police rightly restricted the numbers of tickets available for Cardiff fans in the game at Madejski Stadium, it was not a surprise that they have now said we will get only 2,000 terrace tickets. In any event, based on past experience, it is unlikely that too many Reading fans will want to travel to such a god-forsaken place early on Boxing Day. To purchase tickets, it is necessary to contact the Cardiff City box office direct on 0845 345 1405 during normal office hours or on Saturday mornings. The Reading ticket office are attempting to obtain tickets to sell for this game, but Cardiff have so far not allowed this.

Prices are:
Adults - £13
Seniors / juniors - £11

Another change to the ground is that Cardiff have installed new terracing in front of the covered stand to the right of the away end. The changes have in total increased the capacity from 15,000 to 21,000.

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