| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Sunday, 26th December | Cardiff City | Away | Lost 0-1 |
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Referee: Bill
Jordan (Tring)
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Report by Plastic Dreamer:
Cardiff City - A throw-back to the '70s. Great big adverts on the stands which were last painted in the 70s.
Pies at 70s prices - and hot! A half-time draw with a first prize of £45 (yes, forty five!). Sadly the 70s connection doesn't end there. Next season we will be playing all those teams we used to play most seasons in the 70s - Hartlepool, Rochdale etc. Yes, we are going down. The slide began in May 95, and at this rate we will be visiting Welling, Forest Green and other outposts by 2003. Never mind though, the Stadium's nice.
Today we were up against an awful team in Kay-ar-diff City - surprisingly without Legg and Bowen, rumoured to be in Brighton together for Xmas.
Cardiff were as clueless as Reading, but at least they got stuck in. Too much so in one case as one of their players (Carpenter) made a two-footed assault on Casper (early indications were a broken leg) and got away with it.
Apart from Keith Scott and Scott Howie, our players were either inept or gutless or both. That includes Parky too. For a long time now he has lived on a reputation of being hard and "prepared to die for the colours". No sign of that today. Gurney, Smith, Primus, Hunter and Evers are not good enough to get us out of the Third Division next season, so get rid of them now. If any clubs are seriously considering buying Hunter - and Caskey for that matter - TAKE THEIR MONEY NOW. Williams was shite, falling over or fouling all the time. What an easy way to make a living - turn up at a football ground and do sod all for a couple of hours.
About the game then... we were lacking in fitness (no tracking back when Cardiff attacked), lacking in basic footballing skills (I hope the cameras didn't follow Primus too much or there will be loads of material for next weekend's look back at the year's biggest gaffs and cock-ups). We couldn't pass to other Reading players, instead taking the easy option of hoofing the ball into the corners for our non-existent wingers to chase. If Keith Scott could have got onto the end of his own crosses then we'd have had a chance, but sadly he seems to be the only player who cares. With 15 minutes to go Howie pulled off a wonder-save. A minute later and Cardiff score from the corner, as our defenders decide they've earned their weekly thousands of pounds so it's time to sleep. At long last a substitution was made. Every Reading fan could see it was half an hour too late. We pushed players forward for the last ten minutes but it just emphasised how crap we really are. Alex Haddow was on the bench as a token gesture to show that the Academy players have a chance of first team football, but I would play the whole Academy team with Keith Scott on Tuesday, and give the prima donnas a scare.
The panto season arrived at the final whistle when the few hundred travelling fans actually gave the players a standing ovation. A sign of the times. We are used to such drivel that a 0-1 defeat is a result. Still I was home, dry and pissed just 30 minutes after the final whistle, so it wasn't all bad.
You read it here first. We ARE going down...
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