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2002/03 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Jamie Cureton (penalty, 13 minutes)
Assist: None
Opposition goals: After 74 and 81 minutes
Half-time: Reading 1 Coventry City 0
Gamebreaker: Coventry's second goal
Attendance: 14,712
Weather: Dry, sunny, extremely hot
Referee: Keith Hill (Royston)

Reading line-up: 1 Phil Whitehead; 2 Graeme Murty, 6 John Mackie, 8 Adie Williams, 3 Nicky Shorey; 11 Andy Hughes, 14 Sammy Igoe, 4 Kevin Watson (16 Phil Parkinson, 79 minutes), 17 John Salako (7 Anthony Rougier, 75 minutes); 12 Jamie Cureton (10 Nicky Forster, 70 minutes), 9 Martin Butler
Subs not used: 31 Marcus Hahnemann, 24 Darius Henderson
Starting formation:

Reading yellow cards: Nicky Shorey (foul, 73 minutes), Martin Butler (bad foul, 77 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

It was such a hot day that Reading did the pre-match warm-up at the south end of the stadium in order to take advantage of the few metres of shade provided by the South Stand roof. The weather affected the pace of the game, and it appeared that Reading tired first as Coventry scored two late-ish goals to win the game.

Reading got off to an excellent start, with a Martin Butler header stopped on the Coventry goal-line, and the away goalkeeper forced into a couple of saves. Then Coventry's centre-forward, returning from injury, hit a piledriver of a shot from distance that crashed against the post. I thought Phil Whitehead might have got a slight touch. Reading's confidence seemed to wane after that incident, but we were able to take the lead due to extreme incompetence on Coventry's part.

We tried to use the corner routine where John Mackie arrives late in the box, but the ball was placed near the penalty spot when he was still well outside the area. With only three defenders in the vicinity, it was a major shock when one of them handled the ball under no pressure at all to concede a penalty. Jamie Cureton tucked the spot-kick away comfortably.

For the next 45 minutes or so of play, Reading made some decent chances but failed to score a second goal. The closest opportunity was when the Coventry keeper tipped a Cureton shot over the bar. Each of Andy Hughes (in the first half) and Adie Williams (in the second) went on one fantastic run past many opposition players, but neither resulted in a goal. Williams could have passed to Cureton at the end of his run, but you couldn't fault him for shooting after having gone 60 yards with the ball. His left-foot shot was unfortunately too tame.

One dangerous Reading break was stopped illegally by an off-the-ball trip on Cureton that the referee failed to see. Both Cureton, and later Butler, tried to get revenge against the player concerned. Cureton was subbed, perhaps partly to make sure he didn't get too carried away, whilst Butler was a bit fortunate to only get a yellow card for his later foul. By that point, Coventry had already equalised, with a free header from a free-kick conceded by Nicky Shorey near the corner flag.

Worse was to follow shortly after, when Reading lost the ball in midfield, Mackie was unable to dispossess an attacking player, and two neat passes allowed a shot past Whitehead from a fairly tight angle.

Nicky Forster was Cureton's replacement, but did not look up to speed. He did set up Butler with a half-chance, but the ball was just behind the centre-forward and he skied his shot over the bar. That proved to be our last chance, leading to a disappointing reverse after being in the lead for such a long time.

Match notes:

Compared to the Sheffield Wednesday game, Sammy Igoe replaced James Harper in the starting line-up, with Nicky Forster taking Igoe's space on the bench and Harper not even in the named 16. Marus Hahnemann was goalkeeping substitute instead of Jamie Ashdown.

This was Reading's first home defeat since 1st December, 2001 against Chesterfield.

Match preview:

After three points at home to Sheffield Wednesday, there is a little less pressure on Reading, but Coventry City are likely to provide a sterner test. Some people have tipped Coventry to win the division this season, and most expect them to improve on last season when they failed to make the play-offs.

Despite the signing of Marcus Hahnemann (who trained with Coventry at one stage during the summer), Phil Whitehead should start in goal with the American displacing Jamie Ashdown from the bench. The outfield players will surely be those that began the second half of Tuesday's game, leaving the only question as to whether there is a place on the bench for Nicky Forster. If he's fit enough to contribute 20 minutes or so, I'd choose him ahead of Anthony Rougier.

Before my time, but games against Coventry used to be fairly common. That was up until they secured promotion to Division 2 in 1964, which was the last time we were in the same division as them. The one recent encounter was in the 1988 Simod Cup when we beat the then Division 1 side in a penalty shootout after the game had finished 1-1. Elm Park was full for that game, and we should hope that Madejski Stadium is close to capacity for what is one of the more attractive games this year.

Ticket information:

The North Stand will be reserved seating for this game. Otherwise, prices and details are the same as for standard home games, and are available here.

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