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2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Jamie Cureton (52 minutes)
Assist: Nicky Forster
Opposition goals: None
Half-time: Reading 0 Stoke City 0
Gamebreaker: The red card for the Stoke centre-back
Attendance: 21,032
Weather: Sunny spells and showers, bitterly cold, very windy
Referee: Steve Dunn (Bristol)

Reading line-up: 1 Phil Whitehead; 2 Graeme Murty, 23 John Mackie, 5 Adi Viveash, 28 Nicky Shorey; 14 Sammy Igoe, 11 Andy Hughes, 16 Phil Parkinson, 29 John Salako; 10 Nicky Forster (16 Neil Smith, 92 minutes, in second-half injury time), 12 Jamie Cureton (24 Darius Henderson, 87 minutes)
Subs not used: 21 Jamie Ashdown, 32 Leo Roget, 19 Joe Gamble
Reading yellow cards: None
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

One of the best Reading performances in recent times, both on and off the pitch, spoilt only by our finishing. In the game, Reading had five or six clear chances, which I guess should translate to at least three goals, so a 1-0 win is in that sense slightly disappointing.

The Stoke manager had said before the game that the way to get results against Reading was to play an attacking formation - he may be right, but the fact that he lined up with five defenders showed that he doesn't trust his own judgement.

In the first half, Reading had far more of the game than our visitors and carved out a number of good openings. A nice flowing move ended with a cross from the right and a Jamie Cureton shot that the goalkeeper saved well. Then Nicky Shorey had a go from the edge of the area which went only just wide. After a ball over the top, Nicky Forster tried his luck from about 40 yards, but just clipped the bar with the keeper well beaten. However, there's not much doubt in my mind that he should have been flagged offside. (Cureton was also offside in that move, but clearly not interfering with play once Forster had the ball!)

Stoke managed a couple of long-range efforts, one of which needed a good diving save from Phil Whitehead, but overall they offered little to worry us up front. Our best chance fell to Andy Hughes who sprinted through the defence to collect the final pass in a sweeping move, but unfortunately did not control it well, and the goalkeeper was able to gather comfortably.

The second half started in the same pattern, and we got the deserved breakthrough from a right-wing corner. It was played low to where Forster was unmarked 15 yards out but at a bit of an angle. His shot was stopped by the goalkeeper but he spilled it to Cureton who fired the ball home from a few yards out. A typical Cureton goal, reminding me of the quote from last season - "I just stand in the box, and the ball just comes to me!"

Straight from the kick-off, Forster and Cureton hunting as a (small) pack, dispossessed Stoke and played their way into the penalty area. Forster got the shot in after beating the last defender but it curled just wide of goal with the keeper nowhere. Had that shot gone in, the game would have been over.

Stoke came back and clipped almost the same bit of bar as Forster in the first half when a long shot flew past Phil Whitehead. Of course, had it been a few inches lower and going in, Phil would have had it covered.

Far too late, Stoke made a tactical chance taking off one of the defenders and bringing on another forward, who started off playing behind their front two. Their plans went badly wrong just a few minutes later when one of the remaining centre-backs clattered into Sammy Igoe from behind to pick up his second yellow card. His first had been for a similar challenge on Forster and later in the first half he had got away with another one, so he should have had no complaints. In all three cases the Reading players ended up spreadeagled on the ground without being seriously injured, and the actual fouls looked worse than they were because our players were moving with speed.

With only ten men and trying to chase the game, it became quite easy for Reading to attack against Stoke now, and we continued to miss chance after chance. And I know I'm going to think of another three or four just after I've published this report. The ones I can remember at the moment are a Cureton header over the bar when it looked difficult to get it that high, a good save by the Stoke keeper after another Hughes sprint behind the defence where this time he got a decent shot in, and a lovely curling free-kick around the "wrong side" of a defensive wall that was just turned away for a corner. The free-kick took me so much by surprise I don't even know who took it, because I was expecting Salako to put the ball around the wall on the other side.

Phil Whitehead had to make one more save, from a dangerously deflected shot, but as normal time expired the next best chance fell to Darius Henderson, whose towering header was placed wide of the keeper but lacked the strength to beat the defender chasing back to clear it off the line.

There were only three minutes of time added on, which we played out fairly comfortably by keeping the ball in attacking positions. And when the referee blew the final whistle, the only question about the game was how we'd only managed to score one.

I can think of only two ways to improve this performance - Jamie Cureton was caught offside far too frequently, including times when he really ought to have been able to see he needed to step back a yard or two. The other thing of course is to take more of our chances, for which we need Cureton in the team as often as possible.

Match notes:

Before the game, someone called Adele in the North Stand received a proposal of marriage via the scoreboard. As far as I can remember that's the second time this has happened - on the first occasion the result ("yes") was flashed up later, whilst this time it wasn't, so draw your own conclusions.

Compared to the game against Swindon Town, Jamie Cureton replaced the suspended Anthony Rougier, whilst fit-again Adi Viveash came in for Leo Roget (and as you can tell from the preview, that caught me by surprise!). Roget and Joe Gamble were on the bench instead of Cureton and Matt Robinson.

I've been meaning to mention this for a while but as it applies every game, there hasn't been much need - Darius Henderson made his 29th substitute appearance of the season in the League (not to mention three others in cup competitions). Without checking, this surely has to be a club record and can't be far off the national or world best. With 11 games still to go, it is frightening to think what the big lad could yet achieve in this field!

The win was Reading's sixth in succession at home, which is the equal longest streak of any team in Division 2 this season (Peterborough United and Stoke City have also managed this).

The attendance of 21,032 was a new League record for Madejski Stadium, beating the 20,589 who watched the game against Bournemouth last season. I suspect that it is also the first time in history that the announcement of a ground record League crowd has been met without a cheer. In the overall list of MadStad crowds, this game now comes in fourth, behind Wigan Athletic in the play-offs (22,034), Tottenham Hotspur in a pre-season friendly (21,874) and West Ham United in the League Cup (21,173).

Match preview:

A match between the first and fourth placed teams is always going to generate some excitement, and it's looking as though there's going to be a big crowd for this one. The League record attendance of 20,589 against Bournemouth last season must be in serious danger, although the extra segregation is likely to mean that the ground record of 22,034 against Wigan Athletic will not fall. There's also a rumour that the away fans, unhappy at the recent humiliating home defeat to Port Vale, have yet to snap up all their tickets, although I don't know that I believe that.

On the pitch, the main interest is exactly what defenders Reading will be able to play in this game. On-loan Leo Roget is presumably still fit, whilst John Mackie, Adi Viveash and Adie Williams are at various stages of recovery. As far as I can tell there is no chance of Williams being fit for a while, whilst Viveash is unlikely to last 90 minutes yet. On the other hand, I expect Mackie to have recovered from his swollen ankle, so I assume he will partner Roget.

Anthony Rougier is suspended so there's a place for Jamie Cureton up front. There's unlikely to be too many changes in the rest of the line-up.

Stoke have brought in two forwards this week. They're descrribed as "Premiership forwards" but the two clubs they came from are the bottom two clubs in that league, and clearly these players were rejects. The chance are however, that if they can work together with the rest of their team, they will cause us problems. In particular, unless Mackie plays we are going to have serious trouble at the back with a lack of pace.

A casual glance at recent results might make it look as though Reading have hit a small rocky patch - however this has included three away games in the last four, whilst our recent home record shows five straight wins. In any event, our form is still better than Stoke's.

Ticket information:

There is a special offer relating to tickets for this game. If you buy a ticket for the Blackpool game (19th January), the Colchester United game (26th January) and the Notts County game (9th February) AT THE SAME TIME, then you get a free ticket for this game.

Also the North Stand is reserved seating for this match.

As at 18th February, the East Stand is sold out and the North Stand is almost sold out. (Later in the week another block of East Stand tickets under the scoreboard went on sale.)

The prices and other ticket details are the same as for standard home games, and are available here.

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