| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Saturday, 5th February | Preston North End | Away | Drew 2-2 |
Match facts:
Reading goals:
Assists:
Opposition goals:
Half-time:
Gamebreaker:
Attendance:
Weather:
Referee: Scott
Mathieson (Stockport)
Reading line-up:
Subs not used:
Starting formation:
Reading yellow cards:
Reading red cards:
Match report:
This was always going to be a tough game. It was also one that I eagerly looked forward to, with the opportunity at last to see a potentially lethal strike partnership playing for the Royals. The fact that both Tino Butler and Nicky Forster had turned down Preston only added spice to the occasion.
Our new coach, Martin "Mad Dog" Allen, decided to get in on the act before the game had even started. He sent Howie and van der Kwaak down to the home end to warm up. Several stewards tried to move them to the other end but they stayed put. Then the Preston keepers came out and went to the same end. At this point Howie was in the goalmouth taking crosses and the Preston keepers tried to disrupt the warm-up. The rest of the Preston players came out to that end as well.
Then Mad Dog led our players out, also to the same end! As the Preston players jogged across the pitch he had ours running lengthwise to get in the way. Police and Preston blazer-types tried to intervene, but he carried on. Meanwhile the Preston stewards were retaining Howie's practice balls so he had to pinch the Preston ones. Eventually the Reading outfield players came to our end, to a standing ovation. Soon after, our keepers (including Shaun Allaway, in the squad for some experience although this probably wasn't what he had envisaged!) had to follow, having run out of footballs.
John Madejski was also on hand, walking from the stand holding the directors' box around the touchline in front of the Reading fans to the stand including the dressing room. I wonder if this was for one of his famous pre-match pep talks - I can sort of imagine Mad Dog screaming at him to get out. Madejski received generous applause from the Reading fans on both legs of his journey, and rightly so. And this was even before we had seen Butler play for us, remember.
In the game, Preston started the more lively side but without creating any good chances. We had Butler and Forster up front together, with McIntyre on the left wing, and this front three worked very well. Butler always runs for everything, and on this occasion Forster was doing the same. Butler also proved good at winning the ball in the air, which was an unexpected bonus. We had a few long-range attempts in the opening exchanges but all were well wide.
After about 12 minutes, Sean Gregan, the Preston midfielder stopped Butler taking a quick free-kick by elbowing him to the ground. The referee saw it and had no option other than to produce a red card. Incredibly, Gregan was only booked. Two minutes later the same player clattered into Parkinson near the touchline and close to the benches. This challenge was so bad that the protest from the Reading bench had to be restrained by the police. Some referees would have sent Gregan off for this challenge alone, and surely all would have booked him, but the idiot supposedly in charge of this game decided that a talking to was enough. What an absolute disgrace - his combined challenges were considerably worse than all of those occasions this season that have seen Reading players dismissed.
Soon after, Gregan added to his villain status by diving under a perfectly fair challenge from Martin Butler, who unbelievably got booked. The referee continued to give fouls against us throughout the entire game, most of which were totally unjustified.
However, just before half-time we made the breakthrough. Forster received the ball with his back to goal halfway inside the Preston half, did a quick spin to leave the defender trailing and then headed directly for goal. Three defenders converged on him but were unable to catch up before he let fire with a rocket into the top corner. Reading fans went wild, and the Preston fans (who had been giving Forster a lot of abuse) silent. Two minutes later Forster got the ball on the left wing, cut inside past two defenders and let fly with a low cross-cum-shot. Unfortunately it went just wide and Butler couldn't quite reach it. Then in injury time, Caskey had a golden chance for a second. The defence was nowhere as he was set up by Forster, but he hesitated for far too long and it was eventually cleared. This was a similar opportunity to the first goal against Colchester so he should have scored.
At the start of the second half, nothing much was happening. The ground was silent, including the Reading fans, many of whom seemed to still be in the bar. Suddenly I heard this mad frantic shouting from pitchside. I looked down and there was Mad Dog. He had left the dug-out and come down to the Reading fans to tell us to make some noise. The fourth official was trying to escort him back with little success. However, his plan worked. We started singing again, and he had every right to demand that we sing for 90 minutes given that the players did actually perform for that long. There were occasions during the half when I noticed him encouraging us to sing louder - he's a hard man.
It is ironic that clubs manufacture mascots to symbolise encouragement for their team. At one end of the ground, the now famous Deepdale Duck was performing in front of the home fans. Kingsley Royal was also on hand for this game, resplendent in his new away top, but we have an assistant manager who actually supports his own team and who looks like a whirling dervish.
The favourite song for the afternoon was Tom Hark again, but this time singing the words "Martin Butler" to the tune. We also sang "Barmy Army" replacing the normal words with "Martin Butler". Another song given a few airings was "We've got Butler, we've got Forster, you ain't, you ain't". Anyone spot a pattern here?
Perhaps it all backfired a bit, though. As we made more noise, so did the Preston fans, and that seemed to encourage their team. In a three-minute spell, they scored twice to take the lead. The first was set up by a flick from Gregan and volleyed past Howie who had no chance. The second came from yet another appalling free-kick decision from the referee. Primus this time won the ball cleanly in a tackle and was horrified to hear the whistle blow. From the cross, Preston scored with another shot with which Howie had no chance.
At that point, we might have laid down and died. We definitely would have done under the same circumstances just a few weeks ago. The Preston fans made some real noise for the only time in the match, but we also kept singing. And the players came forward looking to score. How happy we all were that it was Butler who got the equaliser. A snap header in the box that we would surely not have scored from a month ago showed exactly why we signed him. Butler's reaction was ecstatic, running behind the net in front of home fans to the corner of the ground where we all were. For a moment I was worried that the home-town referee would book him again, but fortunately Preston hadn't bribed him enough for that.
Both sides had chances to win this game. The best fell to Peter Grant. He had made a superb run into space after our forwards had pulled all the defenders over to the other side of goal, and Forster released him. This was similar to the goal Grant scored against Wrexham, but this time he shot very weakly directly to the keeper. Gregan also had a chance, powering his way through our defence but Howie came out to dive at his feet and save at the second attempt.
At the end of the match we were defending poorly, giving the ball away all the time and just clearing our lines rather than trying to pass it out. Partly this was because Butler had run himself into the ground - hopefully this is just because he missed some training sessions this week, rather than a permanent feature. But nevertheless we did hold on for the draw.
Although we might have won this game, we would have settled for a draw beforehand (remember Preston had won their previous nine home league games). At the final whistle the players and coaches came over to the Reading fans for a deserved standing ovation.
On the way back to the station, I overheard snatches of conversation from Preston fans. They seemed to think that they had played better than usual. So we have every right to be proud to have got a point.
Blackpool, here we come!
Match notes:
This game had an extraordinary aftermath - you can read all about it here.
Match preview:
None.
Ticket information:
None.
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