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1999/2000 Reports

Match facts:

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Referee: Phil Richards (Preston)

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Match report:

The only fans in the country that could watch this rubbish, and still truthfully say that it was a big improvement on the previous week, are those from Reading.

The only change in the line-up from the previous week's debacle was to bring in Bernal for Grant. This also meant a change in formation - we appeared to be playing 3-4-3 with Nicholls genuinely up front with Scott and Williams, and Gray and Gurney at wing-back. This formation worked much better than the 4-4-2 of previous games, but such terms are only relative.

We almost scored in the opening minutes. The Cambridge keeper dropped a simple cross right onto the foot of Williams. Unfortunately Williams could get no power on his shot and a defender was able to easily clear it.

Cambridge had obviously come for a point, although with the hope that they might get a goal on the break. They have two much-praised forwards, Butler and Benjamin, who Reading have apparently shown some interest in. Both players showed a willingness to work that our own squad have completely forgotten about. Butler, as well, showed considerable ability, and there is no way that he is going to move to our club. I was not as impressed by Benjamin, but given that he is only 20 he would be a decent signing. He made his debut at 16 and has already played over 100 games - if he had been at Reading we probably wouldn't have seen him yet.

In the first half, Cambridge had two real chances. For the first Butler put over a good low hard cross (remember those?) and Primus just got his foot there first to clear. The second was a longer-range shot that forced a decent save from Howie.

Meanwhile Reading had more of the play, and a number of those speculative shots from distance that they seem to like, but created no real danger to the Cambridge goal. Scott had an appalling game, contributing exactly nothing, apart from to give away free-kicks. Our best chance would have come when Gurney had a one-on-one with the keeper. He slotted the ball into the net perfectly, but the linesman's flag was up for offside. Now Gurney was definitely ahead of the left-back who was marking him, but it looked as if one of the central defenders had played him on.

At half-time, Pardew replaced Scott with Nicky Forster, and immediately the game changed. Forster's pace and trickery led to a number of Reading attacks, and for a short while it looked as though we might score. The closest was a Forster shot that hit the bar and then rebounded to safety.

Howie had to remain alert all game, and made several saves, two of which were very good. Cambridge came close to scoring from a corner. They brought all their big men forward, and our defence were watching them closely, but the kick-taker scuffed the ball and it scudded along the ground towards the goal. Fortunately we had a player on the near post and he just got it away.

Sarr came on, and didn't do a great deal. He stayed out on the left wing this time, rather than taking up a central position, but this did at least distract the defence. Our last attempt came when a defender gave the ball away to Forster on the edge of the area. He shot immediately, but it was straight at the keeper who parried it away. It is the only half-difficult save I can remember the keeper having to make.

Towards the end of the game, some Reading fans had been congregating near the pitch, and at the final whistle the MadStad saw its first pitch invasion. A few hundred got on, but then didn't know what to do with themselves. They should have headed for Pardew or the players and given them some abuse, but after a little while headed for the away fans. Why? They're not our problem, and they clearly weren't interested.

The moral of this story is that if you're going to run on the pitch, you have to know why you're doing it. And that applies to the players as well.

Match notes:

Match preview:

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Ticket information:

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