| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Saturday, 1st April | Wrexham | Away | Won 1-0 |
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Referee: Mike
Pike (Barrow-in-Furness)
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Match report:
This was a hard-working performance against a very weak team, and meant that we got the win we deserved on the day. Had we put in the same sort of effort against the likes of Chesterfield and Cardiff recently, we would have comfortably won those games as well.
Wrexham's ground has changed quite a bit since our last disastrous visit - they have finally built a new stand after some years of only having three sides, and the enclosure at the away end now has seats rather than terrace. There were a few hundred Reading fans, including a number who had come in fancy dress on the Junior Royals coach.
As is so often the case, the winners of the fancy dress competition were those who hadn't deliberately entered. In first place was Mass Sarr as a waste of space, and in second Jimmy Crawford as a professional footballer. My vote went to the she-devil - she can come and corrupt me any time (well, any time after she's reached legal age).
On the pitch, Pardew reverted to the line-up that beat Bristol Rovers (but with Hunter replacing Primus), having worked out that Peter Grant was much better in midfield than Ricky Newman. There was also a return to the bench for Martin Williams.
We started fairly brightly with Forster in particular going past their left-back as if he wasn't there. On the first occasion nothing came of it, but just afterwards he beat him for pace again, cut into the area and put a low cross in that Butler turned into the net. There was a bit of a scramble with a couple of players getting their foot on the ball, but it was patently obvious who was going to get the credit! Well, except to the tannoy announcer who said that Forster scored (the tannoy was inaudible in the away end, but a Wrexham fan told me that after the game).
In the rest of the half, Forster beat the defence with his pace on numerous occasions. Usually they just fouled him, twice collecting bookings. Most of these runs left Forster on the right wing, and we never seemed to actually create anything from his crosses or from when he cut inside and shot. Even so, it meant that Wrexham's defence needed to hang back for the entire game as it was the only way they could do anything about stopping him.
Forster apart, the first half was really a very scrappy affair. Wrexham did string together some passing moves, but made no forward progress because our midfield closed them down, and our defence were marking their forwards tightly. When we got the ball, we often gave it away immediately.
Howie made one save, diving full-length to tip the ball past the post. God knows why because it was going a yard wide anyway, and Adrian Williams was not slow to tell him. Other Wrexham shots either went well wide (and I mean WELL wide) or were straight at Howie making it easy for him. He also dealt well with a number of crosses including one good punch, so he must have been fairly happy with his half.
After the break nothing much changed. Wrexham pushed forward but created nothing. We looked dangerous on the break but didn't get clear shots on goal. Caskey had one dangerous free-kick but put it just over the bar. Mad Dog had a run-in with the home bench, nearby fans, fourth official and linesman on that side. (Perhaps the next competition should be how many minutes before he gets sent off on Tuesday?)
As usual, we made three substitutions - Igoe replaced Caskey, and looked more impressive this time. Scott and Williams replaced Forster and Butler - Williams looked sharp and caused the defence problems with his pace. Scott did get a header on target but it was never going to beat the keeper.
Wrexham continued to be no threat at all, so it was easy for us to hang on for the 1-0 win. It's only the second time all season that we've kept a clean sheet away from home so we have every right to be pleased about it. Really these are the sort of results that we need to pick up regularly throughout next season.
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