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2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goals: None
Assists: None
Opposition goals: None
Half-time: Reading 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 0
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 22,009
Weather: Dry and mostly sunny, swirling wind
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

Reading line-up: 1 Phil Whitehead; 2 Graeme Murty, 8 Adie Williams, 23 John Mackie, 28 Nicky Shorey; 14 Sammy Igoe, 11 Andy Hughes, 16 Phil Parkinson, 29 John Salako (22 Nathan Tyson, 85 minutes); 7 Anthony Rougier (24 Darius Henderson, 66 minutes), 12 Jamie Cureton
Subs not used: 21 Jamie Ashdown, 5 Adi Viveash, 15 James Harper
Reading yellow cards: Andy Hughes (foul, 13 minutes), Phil Parkinson (foul, 46 minutes, in first-half injury-time), John Mackie (dissent, 54 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

Despite all the pre-match hype, this was a very disappointing match. I thought that Brighton would turn up and look for a point, but I failed to predict that we would also play in a fairly cautious manner and appear happy with a draw as well. Either we snuffed out the threat of Brighton's only decent player or he had an off-day (I suspect the latter), so we really should have expected to get more out of the game.

Perhaps the significant factor in our performance was the absence of Nicky Forster. His replacement was Anthony Rougier, who had an awful game, often being responsible for moves breaking down. Apart from missing Forster's pace and movement, it seemed as though the central midfield pairing of Andy Hughes and Phil Parkinson were loathe to get forward for most of the game, leaving us short when we did attack. Towards the end, Hughes was more adventurous and we played our best football in that spell, so I suspect they were operating under orders earlier in the contest.

Conditions did not help. Outside the stadium the wind was very strong - it seems that there was little wind at pitch level (because balloons and ticker-tape remnants did not clear, or even swirl around), but that there was a swirling wind higher up. This meant that long balls often did not go where they were intended, and defenders were frequently seen adjusting position just before making a header.

Most of Reading's crosses were too long or too short, but as that happened on Tuesday as well, I have no intention of blaming that on the wind, particularly as it applied from both sides of the pitch.

In the first half, we had just two shots. Both were from the edge of the area, and both fell to defenders on their wrong foot. From a half-cleared corner Adie Williams found Row Z (plus a bit), whilst Nicky Shorey went on a decent run before cutting onto his right foot and his shot went wide. Brighton managed one shot on target, which was straight at Phil Whitehead, but was well struck and might have caused problems if the direction had been better.

Reading's best passing move of the half came five minutes before half-time and included five players down the right channel before a pass to Rougier, which meant the ball was then given away.

So, at half-time nothing much of note had happened at all. The start of the second half looked more lively, with both sides looking to do more with the ball, but in reality it was still pretty unexciting. Many of our forward moves ended with the offside flag, as Jamie Cureton played his normal game of standing two yards too far forward and then looking surprised when the flag went up. (There was however one occasion where I swear I saw him actually trying to get back onside!)

Cureton should probably have given us the lead though when latching on to a badly placed defensive backheader (so no chance of offside!), but he went too far wide and could not get a shot on target from what was a tight angle. At the other end, Phil Parkinson came close to breaking the deadlock with a strong header against our own bar with Whitehead beaten. This may not be in the right chronological order, but Whitehead also made a decent save, tipping over the bar a strong shot from 25 yards out. I reckon that the save looked more spectacular than it was difficult, though.

Darius Henderson thankfully replaced Rougier and so gave us another option. However, that option was for us to lump balls forward, often nowhere near him and instead at Sammy Igoe or Cureton, and so that didn't help too much. He was however in the thick of the action when Andy Hughes put a header just over the bar, with the defence presumably keeping too much of an eye on the more obvious aerial threats.

Our best move of the half saw Jamie Cureton link up with (probably) Hughes down the right. Hughes took the ball into the penalty area along the byline and then back-heeled it to Cureton on the corner of the six-yard box. A left foot shot might have troubled the goalkeeper but Cureton tried to shoot with his right, and the ball eventually went out for a goal-kick after hitting the corner flag.

Nathan Tyson came on for the last few minutes, but saw little action. He had a far post header that he directed woefully into the crowd when there could have been a danger if he had headed it back across goal. He showed his pace and ball skill once down the left wing when taking on two defenders, but the move led to nothing.

As the game entered the last minute of time added on, we got caught on the break and Brighton managed to get the ball in the net. A left wing cross eluded Whitehead under pressure from one Brighton forward and another was able to shoot into the goal. Fortunately the referee gave a foul on Whitehead. Whilst there's no doubt that the player did made contact with Whitehead whilst jumping and did not get anywhere near the ball, we must count ourselves very lucky that the referee disallowed the goal because he had allowed the same player to get away with the same type of foul when going for headers all game.

After that, there were only a few more seconds of play, so the game ended without a goal.

Brighton will moan about the referee's decision at the end of the game, but he could easily have shown a red card to either of their two players who were booked for bad fouls, so they really should be thanking him.

Match notes:

Compared to the Bournemouth game, Anthony Rougier came in for the injured Nicky Forster, whilst Adie Williams replaced Adi Viveash. Nathan Tyson filled the vacancy on the subs' bench.

The attendance was another new League record for Madejski Stadium but only the second highest ever at the stadium, falling just short of the overall ground record of 22,034 for the play-off semi-final against Wigan Athletic last season. The announcement of this record attendance was again greeted in silence.

This was Reading's third 0-0 League draw of the season (Queens Park Rangers and Swindon Town away being the other two), and the first at home in the League since Cambridge United on 15/1/2000. There was however the home League Cup game against West Ham United earlier this season which was 0-0 after extra time.

Nathan Tyson's appearance as a substitute made this his home League debut for Reading and only his second League apperance for us (previously he came on as a substitute away to Bury on 29/4/2000). He has however played in Cup competitions, as well as in the League on loan at Swansea City.

Match preview:

This is a match that everyone has been looking forward to, but in reality is far more important for the visitors than it is for Reading. If Brighton lose, they could well find themselves in third place in the table, and suddenly right back in the pack. On the other hand, we can get away with a failure and still be favourites for promotion. So all the pressure is on them.

Brighton's poor away form this season indicates their true level of ability, and suggests that their league position has been boosted by the appalling conditions at their temporary home ground. Their results also imply that they have been going to away games looking to get a draw. In their last six away games, they have managed just one win and one draw, whilst losing four times. What's more, the win was achieved only with the help of an illegal goal when their only good player kicked the ball out of the opposing goalkeeper's hands whilst the officials weren't looking. The four defeats were by scores of 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 and 3-1, so they weren't exactly close encounters.

Conversely Reading had a run of six straight home wins ended by the draw at home to Bournemouth last Tuesday. Overall we have only lost one League game in the last 17, and that was on a pitch narrower than allowed by Football League regulations.

There is a theory that Brighton, having become accustomed to playing on their own narrow pitch, struggle on normal sized grounds, and against teams with good wide players. I don't know if this is true or not, but if we can get John Salako and Sammy Igoe working on the wings, with Graeme Murty and Nicky Shorey joining the attacks, then we will certainly test them out in this aspect. Their goalkeeper is also weak on crosses, so hopefully we'll get to challenge him. Having said that, some of our crosses against Bournemouth were so poor that they would fail to give anyone trouble.

Nicky Forster is apparently an injury doubt. I have heard suggestions that he is not suffering from a knee problem at all, but the story is just part of Alan Pardew's kidology for the game. I think it more likely that Forster does have a problem, but will still be fit enough to start. If not, then presumably Anthony Rougier will partner Jamie Cureton up-front.

There are also selection questions in midfield and the centre of defence. Both James Harper and Adie Williams are now fit, but I would be surprised if either start the game. However, should Andy Hughes and Phil Parkinson fail to provide a spark in the centre of midfield, we can expect to see Harper on at some stage.

I reckon that Brighton will approach this game cautiously - they will look to defend and hope to catch us on the break. This tactic has failed for most teams at Madejski Stadium, but it is clear that Brighton do have some of the personnel necessary to carry out such a plan. Their defence is reasonable, having conceded 25 goals away from home this season (more than seven other clubs, but not too bad), whilst their version of a bargain buy from Bristol Rovers will obviously provide some threat during the game.

The game is likely to turn on whether we can break them down. Based on the evidence of their other results, if we attack them with width and pace, they should be unable to cope and we should expect a game similar to that at home to Stoke City. Hopefully, if that is the case we can improve our finishing and secure a comfortable victory.

One further thing - the Brighton number 12 is Richard Carpenter, a member of this website's hate list. He ended Chris Casper's career with a dreadful two-footed lunge from behind whilst playing for Cardiff City just over two years ago. It was difficult to pick him out in the gloom at the away game, but let's make sure that he gets the abuse he deserves throughout his visit to Madejski Stadium. Whether or not you consider this petty, from what I know of him it is likely to affect his performance and so will improve our chances of winning.

Ticket information:

As of Monday, 3rd March this game is sold out.

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

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