| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Saturday, 11th March | Brentford | Home | Won 1-0 |
Match facts:
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Referee: Alan
Butler (Sutton-in-Ashfield)
Reading line-up:
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Match report:
On "Matthew Robinson Day" there was a sad inevitability about the fact that the great man was injured and unable to play. Graeme Murty took his place and had an average game. Darren Caskey was suspended and Sean Evers appeared in his place with Martin Butler taking over the captaincy. Evers had a pretty nondescript match, and the one thing clearly shining out from this game is that we cannot afford to let Caskey go without bringing in some other replacement.
In fact, this was a really average performance from the Royals, with none of the fight and effort shown at Oxford on Tuesday. But the thing is that we got the three points, and it's about time we were getting results from this type of game. Under Tommy Burns the result of this match would have been 1-1; under Terry Bullivant we'd probably have lost 2-1.
Clearly Brentford are a better team than some of the others we've played recently. That must be part of the reason why we never got going. In the first half we had only one decent chance, when Hunter rose but headed against the bar. Within a minute Brentford also hit the bar, their effort coming from a curling long shot. In both cases, the keepers were well beaten.
The only other incidents of note occurred in and just outside the Brentford penalty area. Butler was clearly pushed over just as he was about to head the ball in a dangerous position. You don't normally get the decision in such cases, and we didn't this time. Then the Brentford keeper made a sprawling save at the side of the area, and clearly took the ball outside. It was obvious because he made a double movement to move the ball towards the area, and after that it was still only on the line! But the referee didn't give it and without Caskey there's a good chance the kick would have come to nothing anyway.
The second half was much the same. Andy Gurney produced our first shot on target, but it was a tame effort that even the two Oxford keepers might have managed to save. Then we had our best chance of the game. Gurney crossed the ball from the right, the keeper flapped at it, and Lee Hodges outjumped everyone at the far post to get a header in. Even though he made good contact, and the goal was empty, he missed the target.
Brentford also had one good long shot. Howie made an acrobatic diving save to tip the ball away for a corner, but I'm not sure if it was going in, anyway.
In what must rank as a very desperate measure, we brought Paul Brayson on. I don't need to tell you that he didn't score, but in this case he was playing right wing so it's not such a issue. He did make some decent runs down the right, though, and generally we were getting more into the game, perhaps as Brentford settled for a point.
Then Graeme Murty took the ball down the left wing, and beat his man comfortably. This left him in acres of space with a good chance to make progress, so the defender cynically brought him down. The Brentford fans claim that this was a dive - that proves that they know nothing about football at all. The referee correctly awarded the free-kick and booked the cheating full-back. Murty took the kick, and swung over a deep cross. At the far post, Adrian Williams rose majestically, and headed the ball back towards the goal. Hodges was waiting at the near post, but made no effort to go for the ball. I was trying to work out why, when I realised that Adie's header had looped over everyone and into the net! This really is back to the good old days.
Williams went and provocatively celebrated right in front of the away fans, who didn't take it too well. Like all Londoners they are arrogant and mouthy, and so nothing actually happened.
From the kick-off Brentford tried to lob Howie. The shot went a few yards wide, and I'm not sure that Scott would have got back to it.
Martin Butler had a good chance to make the game safe, when Brayson put over a good low cross just two yards from the goal-line. Butler hit it first time at the near post, but didn't have the space to get the ball on target.
Towards the end of the game, the referee decided he had to book some Reading players. I've no idea why he did this. It meant that Forster went in the book for a perfectly executed tackle where he won the ball cleanly, and Butler was also booked, yet again for putting in a decent challenge. But then, when substitute Jim McIntyre caught a player quite badly, the referee did nothing. And they wonder why we get annoyed at inconsistency.
There were four minutes of added time, and this game was certainly not safe. However, we started pressing the Brentford players and not allowing them time on the ball. This meant that all they were doing was passing the ball around in the middle of the field, and going nowhere. When the final whistle did come, it stopped Butler from a run through the middle when he would have had another excellent chance to score.
Again the players took an extended curtain call at the end of the match. This one wasn't pretty, but it's another win.
Match notes:
Match preview:
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Ticket information:
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