| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Nationwide League Division 2 | Saturday, 23rd March (3pm) | Oldham Athletic | Home | Drew 2-2 |
Match facts:
Reading goals: John Mackie (8
minutes), Phil Parkinson (46 minutes, in first-half injury time)
Assists: Kevin Watson, Nicky Forster
Opposition goals: After 31 and 75 minutes
Half-time: Reading 2 Oldham Athletic 1
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 15,191
Weather: Dry, calm
Referee: Clive
Penton (Woodingdean, Brighton)
Reading line-up: 1 Phil Whitehead;
7 Graeme Murty, 8 Adie Williams, 23 John Mackie, 28 Nicky Shorey;
11 Andy Hughes, 6 Kevin Watson (31 Michael Branch, 69 minutes),
16 Phil Parkinson, 29 John Salako (7 Anthony Rougier, 83 minutes);
10 Nicky Forster, 12 Jamie Cureton (24 Darius Henderson, 64
minutes)
Subs not used: 30 Frank Talia, 5 Adi Viveash
Reading yellow cards:
Reading red cards: None
Match report:
To follow
Match notes:
Compared to the Chesterfield game, Graeme Murty returned to the starting line-up, with Andy Hughes moving to midfield and the injured Sammy Igoe missing. On the bench, Frank Talia replaced Jamie Ashdown and Michael Branch replaced James Harper.
John Mackie scored his second ever goal, the first coming at home to Bristol City in November. Kevin Watson got the assist for his cross, which strangely is the first time I have credited him with an assist.
Phil Parkinson's goal was his second of the season, since opening our account against Blackpool in the first game of the season.
Darius Henderson came on as a substitute for an amazing 35th time in a League game this season.
Michael Branch made his debut for Reading when he came on as a substitute.
Match preview:
With three eminently winnable home games to go, and only 13 points required for promotion in the worst-case scenario, things are looking very promising for Reading at the moment. However, that doesn't solve the problem we have had all season of trying to make a breakthrough at home against teams who play with eleven men behind the ball. However, Oldham Athletic's last game saw them concede seven at their home - that suggests there are major problems with their defence and that they will therefore not attempt a negative strategy. Further evidence for this might be that they have gone out this week and obtained a new forward, rather than a new defence.
The Reading line-up is likely to be similar to that at Chesterfield, except that Sammy Igoe will apparently not be fit. The obvious choice for his place is loan signing Michael Branch, who has played wide on the right recently and has blistering pace. Couple that with Nicky Forster and any defence without at least one pacy centre-back is going to struggle.
If Graeme Murty does recover fitness in time, then he will surely start, in which case Andy Hughes may find himself out of the team for the first time in quite a while. Jamie Ashdown played for Arsenal reserves on Thursday night, whilst Frank Talia played for our reserves on Wednesday, so that would seem to make it more likely that Talia would be on the bench for us.
Oldham themselves went on a decent run about a month ago and looked as though they were in with a shout of the play-offs. In the last few games, they have dropped away, culminating in a disastrous performance last Saturday. Looking at the seven goals, several of them seemed to come from simple crosses where the goalkeeper was afraid to leave his line, and the others were from one-on-ones where the keeper was left totally exposed by the complete lack of a defence. I don't think that we can expect the same freedom on Saturday.
Ticket information:
Prices and details are the same as for standard home games, and are available here.
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