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2002/03 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goals: None
Assists: None
Opposition goal: After 22 minutes
Half-time: Preston North End 1 Reading 0
Gamebreaker: Preston's goal
Attendance: 13,021
Weather: Sunny spells, cold, breezy
Referee: Chris Foy (St Helens)

Reading line-up: 31 Marcus Hahnemann; 2 Graeme Murty, 8 Adie Williams, 29 Matthew Upson, 3 Nicky Shorey; 7 Anthony Rougier (15 James Harper, 61 minutes), 25 Ricky Newman, 4 Kevin Watson (12 Jamie Cureton, 74 minutes), 17 John Salako (23 John Mackie, 74 minutes); 11 Andy Hughes; 10 Nicky Forster
Subs not used: 21 Jamie Ashdown, 9 Martin Butler
Approximate starting formation:

Formation after all three substitutions were made:

Reading yellow cards: Matthew Upson (foul, 52 minutes), Nicky Shorey (foul, 58 minutes), Ricky Newman (foul, 69 minutes), Adie Williams (off-the-ball clash?, 71 minutes), Marcus Hahnemann (interfering with the Preston keeper as the latter was about to throw the ball, 88 minutes)
Reading red cards: None

Match report:

In the previous two matches, Reading's new 4-5-1 formation had worked well against Grimsby Town and Ipswich Town, two sides with slow central defenders who were vulnerable to the pace of our attacks. Preston North End seemed to play a different game, with constant harrying and pressing, which meant that our style was far less effective. The home side also had some tall players who were able to dominate us in the air.

Despite this, Reading started the better and could have taken the lead through Andy Hughes in the opening seconds. Later in the half, after a poor Preston throw-in Nicky Forster shot against the crossbar, with the ball bouncing down near the goal-line and into the arms of the keeper.

The good start evaporated after about 20 minutes when a simple cross and header put Preston in the lead, Matthew Upson being outjumped by the home forward. After that, the Reading game fell apart. Marcus Hahnemann was forced into a good save, tipping the ball past the post from a 25-yard drive, and the local samba band started up a permanent beat before being shut down by the Deepdale stewards. ("We'll have none of that enjoying yourselves nonsense here.")

Just before half-time, we made two chances. A low Nicky Shorey cross was dealt with by the keeper when we had two unmarked players waiting in the area, whilst Forster dispossessed a defender and nearly recreated his goal from the March 2000 game here, the difference this time being that after the strong run towards the goal his shot was straight at the keeper.

In the second half, we played worse. The game became scrappy, not helped by a referee who stopped and started the match far more times than he needed to do. Anthony Rougier had been completely anonymous, and was subbed early in the half by James Harper who improved things without reaching the heights of his Ipswich performance.

After two more substitutions we had switched to 4-4-2, with half the team playing out of position. Such risks were sensible enough in the attempt to change things around, although I think that Martin Butler up-front might have added more given the way the game was going. We had a couple of scares at the back but held out, whilst several of our players picked up yellow cards.

Towards the end, a Preston player handled a cross just outside the penalty area but Jamie Cureton blazed the free-kick high and wide. Three minutes from time, we had a corner and Hahnemann came up to add some aerial presence in the box! He wasn't that far from the ball either, but had to content himself with picking up a booking for attempting to obstruct the Preston keeper's throw out.

When the final whistle came, we had lost a game where we really could have gained something. It's the first time that we've underperformed for a few games, so hopefully we won't see anything similar for a while.

Match notes:

The only change to the starting line-up from the Ipswich Town game was that Andy Hughes returned from injury to replace James Harper. Harper dropped to the bench at the expense of Sammy Igoe.

Preston's goal was the first we had conceded away from home in the League since the 5th minute of the game against Leicester City on 24/8/2002. That meant a total of 467 minutes since a home side had scored against us.

The defeat was only our fourth away from home in the last year.

Match preview:

Whilst I've spent this week trying to remind people of the recent history between Reading and Preston North End, the reality is that this is just a game of football where what is important is to take three points. Much as I would like us to win with goals scored by Nicky Forster and Martin Butler, just to emphasise the fact that both players rejected Preston in favour of Reaidng, an injury-time own goal by a Preston defender would be just as effective.

And there certainly is no reason why we shouldn't be approaching this game expecting to gain another win. Our recent away record has been excellent, where the worst result was a draw with a clean sheet. Preston on the other hand have had a habit of drawing many games this season. Quite a few of their draws have been as a result of them scoring late on, so we may have to be careful about that. Some of Preston's results have been surprising when you compare them to those of Reading, as the Lancashire club lost 4-0 away at Wolves just after we had won there, but they also won 2-0 away at Derby which clearly we were never going to do. They also only drew 3-3 away to Walsall last week despite having a man advantage for over an hour after the Walsall keeper was sent off.

Assuming that Anthony Rougier and Andy Hughes are both fit, the only selection query facing Alan Pardew will be whether to bring Hughes back in for James Harper. I think that he will do so, but we will have to hope that on this occasion Hughes really is back to full fitness rather than this being a repeat of the Wimbledon home game when he had to go off at half-time. Harper should consider himself unlucky to miss out after an excellent performance against Ipswich Town but should be on the bench safe in the knowledge that he will get another chance.

I'm not sure who else will be on the bench, but expect John Mackie to be fit to claim one place alongside Harper and Jamie Ashdown. That leaves Martin Butler, Sammy Igoe and Jamie Cureton vying for two places. The fact that Cureton was substituted after an hour of the reserve game on Wednesday suggests that he is ahead of the other two who played the whole game.

The Preston line-up has suffered hugely from the departure during the summer to West Bromwich Albion of midfield general Sean Gregan. He played well, if illegally, every time I saw him against Reading so we should be pleased to not see him. Forward Ricardo Fuller, who is supposedly interesting Manchester City, is in the middle of a three-game suspension so we won't have to worry about him either. Similar to Cureton, the Preston players USA forward Eddie Lewis and defender Rob Edwards were subsituted after about an hour of Preston's Wednesday night reserve game so might be in the line-up having missed recent games. Lewis was a team-mate of Marcus Hahnemann at Fulham so that might be an interesting battle.

The National Football Museum is located under the Tom Finney Stand at Deepdale. It is apparently in financial difficulty and may have to close, so this might be the best opportunity to see some of the exhibits. The most recent information I have is that it is open until 2.30pm on Saturdays, with an admission price of £6.95 for adults and £4.95 for children. Family tickets are also available. However, their website has already been repossessed and it might be that events have already overtaken me.

Ticket information:

Deepdale has seen some more building work since our last visit, and also now includes the National Museum of Football under one of the stands. Away accommodation is part of one of the end stands - we have 2,000 unreserved seats. Tickets go on sale to season ticket holders from Monday, 7th October (maximum of two per season ticket), to STAR members from Monday, 14th October (one per member) and on general sale from Tuesday, 15th October. Prices are as follows:
Adults - £15
Seniors - £10
Under-16s - £8

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