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2002/03 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Jamie Cureton (penalty, 22 minutes)
Assist: Nicky Forster (fouled for penalty)
Opposition goals: After 3 and 5 minutes
Half-time: Leicester City 2 Reading 1
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 22,978
Weather: Sunny spells
Referee: David Elleray (Harrow)

Reading line-up: 1 Phil Whitehead; 2 Graeme Murty, 6 John Mackie, 8 Adie Williams, 3 Nicky Shorey (26 Alex Smith, 81 minutes); 10 Nicky Forster, 11 Andy Hughes, 4 Kevin Watson, 17 John Salako; 12 Jamie Cureton, 9 Martin Butler (7 Anthony Rougier, 74 minutes)
Subs not used: 31 Marcus Hahnemann, 16 Phil Parkinson, 19 Joe Gamble
Starting formation:

Reading yellow cards: John Mackie (dissent, 4 minutes), Martin Butler (foul, 33 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

Two goals down at 20 past three would be a disaster on any Saturday afternoon, but on one where the kick-off was delayed for over a quarter of an hour, it really signals an appalling start to a game. For the remainder of the game, Reading played much better, but frankly I'm fed up of going to games where the manager appears to have convinced our team that we're up against a side comprised of supermen. That's particularly the case for a club such as Leicester City, who on this showing have no chance of promotion this season.

Despite Alan Pardew's statements about the game being difficult for us because it was going to be in a big stadium watched by a large crowd, the truth is that the new Walkers' Stadium is nothing special, and their fans are clearly still suffering from Premiership silence syndrome. Unfortunately by the time this was fully apparent we had let them get a commanding lead. The first came from a simple break, cross, header and shot that all looked far too easy. We had some excuse for the second goal, scored from the penalty spot. The referee saw John Mackie pull an attacker back in the area, but neglected to see the original foul by the forward which was the only reason he was ahead of Mackie in the first place. (This incompetence was highlighted by the fact that he penalised Mackie at a Reading corner for fouling when making his late run into the penalty area, whilst ignoring the fact that Leicester were aware of our tactic and had tried to stop it illegally by fouling Mackie from the time he started his run from the centre-circle.)

I'm sure that the home side eased back a bit after this, but let me also give credit to the Reading players who showed considerable spirit to take the game to Leicester. John Salako and Nicky Forster were playing as wide men in midfield, and swapped sides so many times that I lost count. Both were alternately able to trouble the right-back and cause danger. On one occasion a left-wing cross found Andy Hughes in the box, but he headed over, whilst we actually did get back into the game after a Forster run down the left channel was ended by a foul in the penalty area. Jamie Cureton again scored from the penalty spot. Moments later, Forster was again fouled by the right-back, but this time outside the area, and that was the last real time in the game that we used Forster's pace as a direct attacking weapon down that side of the pitch. I know that Forster tired towards the end of the game, but I didn't understand why we didn't expoit a clear weakness more.

At half-time, we were able to look forward to some oportunities to get points from this game, but overall our play was just a little bit too sloppy. Lack of control or bad passing lost us the ball on occasions, whilst most of the shots we did have were comfortable for the former England international in the home goal. What's more, when the home side attacked it did look as if they had players who could cause us problems quite easily, although they never quite fulfilled that promise.

Our two best chances were both from crosses along the ground that flashed across the face of goal with no-one from either side able to get a touch. The first was after a good jinking run to the byline from Nicky Shorey, and the second after Forster had used his pace on the right side. Anthony Rougier, on the pitch as a substitute for the out-of-sorts Martin Butler, could have made an effort to get on the second but hesitated because he thought a defender would get there first. A better player would have attacked the ball anyway, knowing that if the ball was not cut out he would get a goal. In fact, that's exactly what Cureton would have done had he been in that position.

The home side attacked regularly throughout the half on the break, and Phil Whitehead was forced to make some good diving saves. However, he also dropped several crosses and gave the ball away cheaply as well. On the last such occasion, when he found touch instead of Graeme Murty deep into injury time, I couldn't help thinking that we might have seen the last of him in the starting eleven for a while. Leicester also had a very loud penalty appeal, which although at the other end from me, looked a pretty good claim. Perhaps the referee was just trying to even things up after the one he had given earlier, but I'd rather have played most of the game at 1-1 rather than 2-1 so it wasn't really justice.

Before the season, a lot of comments were made about how fit the Reading players were. Well, this is the second or third game when we have clearly looked very tired at the end of the match compared to the opposition. As we probably won't have to play too many more of these games in very hot weather, things of this nature might improve, but it seems clear to me that stamina is going to cause a problem.

It might well be that our next two away games are against better teams than Leicester City, but because we are travelling to poky little dumps and to clubs that we have played recently, no doubt we will not suffer from the same psychological problems as against Coventry and Leicester. Too much respect is a basic error, and one that we should not be making.

Match notes:

Kick-off was delayed to 3.16pm due to crowd congestion outside the ground.

Compared to the Coventry City game, Nicky Forster replaced Sammy Igoe who had presumably not recovered from illness. It was Forster's first start of the season. Alex Smith and Joe Gamble came onto the bench instead of Forster and the injured Darius Henderson. When Smith came on as a substitute, it was his first appearance in the first team since 17/11/2001 against Welling United in the FA Cup and his first in the league since 27/10/2001.

Jamie Cureton has now scored all four of Reading's goals this season, and is joint leading scorer in the whole country. Cureton also scored the last goal of last season (in case you can't remember it!), meaning that Nicky Forster was the last other Reading player to score a goal, on 13/4/2002.

Match preview:

This game could well be very similar to the trip to Derby County. Reading could play 4-5-1, look for a draw, and get hammered. However, there are reasons to hope that things might be a bit different. For a start, Leicester City are unlikely to be anywhere near as good as Derby, and they have injury problems to add to the fact that their last game was a 6-1 defeat.

More positively, Alan Pardew will surely stick with the 4-4-2 formation that showed a dramatic improvement in the two home games (when compared with that trip to Derby). Jamie Cureton is the only Reading player to score since 13th April so you might think he would be worth a place in the side. Martin Butler's place may have been under some threat from Darius Henderson but injury has meant that that change definitely won't happen, so Butler should get another chance to find his form.

The defence pretty much picks itself, and the only possible change in midfield would be if Sammy Igoe was not fit to play. If that was the case, then James Harper would probably get back into the side, but Phil Parkinson and Joe Gamble would also have a claim on his place. The loss of Igoe would probably mean that Andy Hughes would end up on the right side of midfield again, which would not be good news as his performances in the middle are starting to look impressive.

So that leaves the major question of who plays in goal. Unforgivably, Reading's official website hosted a poll earlier this week to see which of Phil Whitehead and Marcus Hahnemann was preferred by the visitors to that site. The poll was quickly removed, although the result has been left visible. Hahnemann's performance in the reserve game on Wednesday showed that he is definitely looking for a start, and personally I would hand it to him. On the other hand, Whitehead had a good game against Coventry, and his distribution was much improved. Impossible to predict the outcome with any certainty.

We have never beaten Leicester, and the chances are that 24th August 2002 will not be the day that that run is broken. However, if we approach the game positively enough, I think we can come away with a point.

Ticket information:

Since our last visit to Leicester, the home side have moved to the Walkers Stadium. This will be only the second League game to take place at the new ground, and teething problems should be expected.

Tickets are on sale to season ticket holders (two per season ticket) on Wednesday, 14th August, to Supporters Trust members (one per member) from Monday, 19th August and on general sale from Tuesday, 20th August. Prices are as follows:
Adults - £15
Seniors - £13
Under-16s - £10

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