| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Division 2 | Saturday, 15th April | Notts County | Away | Won 2-1 |
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Referee: Roy
Pearson (Peterlee)
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Match report:
At this stage last season, Reading were playing games that were meaningless in terms of league position. Under Tommy Burns we managed to lose practically every one of those games. With a one-legged Martin Allen in the managerial team, we thought that there was little chance of just going through the motions when in the same position this season.
However, in the first half it really did look just like last year all over again. Notts County had four corners in the first five minutes but otherwise played with the same lack of interest shown by our players. In fact, I can think of only two noteworthy incidents in the entire half. Both involved Nicky Forster - in the first he used his pace to block a defensive clearance and headed straight for goal. On this occasion he pulled his shot just wide.
Later he had a much better chance to score. The Notts County keeper kept out a tame shot but spilled it behind his back. Forster was first on the scene and needed only a touch to score, but instead the ball came back away from the goal. It was at the far end and I couldn't see clearly what happened.
I don't know what was said in our dressing room at half-time, but it should be packaged up and issued as a very expensive motivational course. In the first few minutes of the second half, we could have had four goals, as we rained a series of attacks on the Notts County defence.
From the first of these, we did indeed score. We forced a corner which was flicked on to Forster at the far post, who just managed to get his header between the defender and bar.
Our continued pressure didn't produce the immediate second (or third or fourth…) that it could have done. Instead Notts County scored an even simpler equaliser - a corner went over everyone instead of the completely unmarked guy standing at the far post who put it in.
We came straight back at them and got what proved to be the winner. From another corner, Adie Williams sent a header which was going into the top corner. A defender managed to deflect it away but the subsequent clearance fell to Ricky Newman on the edge of the area who fired it back into the top corner with what has to be our goal of the season. It was just as well for Newman as he did practically nothing else of worth all game.
We tried to give County another equaliser with some criminal defending at set pieces. Robinson cleared one off the line and blocked a shot that would surely have gone in otherwise. Williams had yet another go at Howie for his inability to take seemingly simple crosses.
Our other best attacks failed to produce a goal because of Igoe. In one he took the ball forward and shot rather than pass to Forster or Caskey who were in much better positions. His shot went just over the bar, and I don't want to criticise him too much for having a go.
Soon after, we had a two-on-one break. Forster passed the ball to the wide open Igoe, who incredibly failed to get in a shot. In fact, he seemed quite happy to let the defender get back and put it out for a corner. From Forster's reaction, I got the definite impression that he'd have taken the ball forward on his own if he had the chance all over again!
Having named Henderson and Tyson on the bench, Pardew gave Henderson a run-out towards the end. He got involved a few times, but lost possession too easily. He also appeared to have no pace - perhaps he is our long-term replacement for Keith Scott.
A look at the league table shows that we are now safe from relegation (not that anyone has really worried about that for a while) and unable to reach the play-offs. What I really hope is that we continue to play to win in our last four games.
If we need a reminder, just look at Brentford. When they played at our place, their fans were singing "Going Down" to us, and when they lost that game their manager said he didn't care. They're now below us in the table, and if anyone expects them to start next season on fire, they're going to have a big shock.
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