1871 - the ultimate Reading FC website

2003/04 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goal: Steve Sidwell (58 minutes)
Assist: Nicky Forster
Opposition goal: After 93 minutes, in second-half injury-time
Half-time: Ipswich Town 0 Reading 0
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: 24,830
Weather: Dry, very hot, sunny
Referee: Brian Curson (Leicester)

Reading line-up: 1 Marcus Hahnemann; 2 Graeme Murty, 8 Adie Williams (6 John Mackie, 86 minutes), 5 Steve Brown, 3 Nicky Shorey; 7 Scott Murray, 15 James Harper, 14 Steve Sidwell (17 John Salako, 63 minutes), 11 Andy Hughes; 9 Shaun Goater (16 Martin Butler, 67 minutes), 10 Nicky Forster
Subs not used: 21 Jamie Ashdown, 4 Kevin Watson
Starting formation:

Reading yellow cards: Steve Brown (foul, 3 minutes), Steve Sidwell (not retreating at a free-kick, 49 minutes), Graeme Murty (justifiable dissent, 93 minutes)
Reading red cards: Nicky Shorey (foul on an opponent supposedly in a goalscoring position, 78 minutes)

Match report:

After all the expectations of the summer, the new football season arrives. Which will be the better teams? Who will have the luck? Which players will make mistakes? Well, on the evidence of this game, none of those things matter, as again we had to see a match where the result was instead determined solely by the referee.

I make no apologies for beginning the first report of the League season with a vigorous and extended condemnation of Brian Curson, for it was only his appalling handling that meant Reading failed to take all three points from the match. Curson made three serious errors in the way he handled the game, and all three disadvantaged Reading. There were numerous smaller errors as well, but these were spread evenly among the two sides.

The first was to persecute our best player - Steve Sidwell - to the extent that Alan Pardew had to substitute him to retain 11 men on the pitch. Sidwell received a booking for not retreating at a free-kick. (I think that was possibly fair , but Sidwell was moving backwards and the ball was deliberately kicked at him, so he did not block a genuine move.) Then he was spoken to at length after winning the ball in a perfectly fair challenge and clearly given a last warning. Happily, he also scored Reading's goal, from a Nicky Forster cross, whilst John Salako was still warming up to replace him.

The second major error was to send off Nicky Shorey 15 minutes from the end of the game with the score at 1-0. Shorey challenged an Ipswich forward who dived to the ground. It wasn't a foul, but even if it was the player was heading away from goal and Adie Williams was covering so he did not deny a goalscoring opportunity. So the ref got that decision wrong on about three counts. And he had no excuse on the first - the diver concerned had received a yellow card for the same offence in the game at Madejski Stadium last season, brandished by Brian Curson himself, so he already knew his history.

Finally, when the game was less than two minutes from the end of stoppage time, Curson invented a penalty for the home side. Steve Brown stretched out a leg to make a challenge, and an Ipswich player fell to the ground. What made this decision the worst of the lot was that the referee was unsighted, whilst his linesman who could see the event made no signal. Marcus Hahnemann was sent the wrong way for the penalty, which was a shame because it was hit so poorly he would have saved it had he guessed right. Of course, if so the referee would have insisted it be retaken.

Looking at the footballing side of the game, Reading lined up in the expected 4-4-2 formation with Goater making a solid if unspectacular debut. He played a couple of nice little slip passes along the ground and through the defence that will add to our attacking threat. Scott Murray's first game for the club was of a similar standard. I think that we will improve considerably once they have both adjusted to our style of play.

There was little goalmouth activity at either end in the first half, although the pace wasn't noticeably slower than usual despite the baking conditions. Andy Hughes had our best two chances of the first half - for the first he was released down the right channel, but his first touch took him a little wide and the keeper was able to sufficiently narrow the angle to just tip the ball past the post when all thought it was going in. Hughes' second chance came shortly afterwards when the ball broke to him on the edge of the penalty area, but this time he put into the upper deck.

Hahnemann had little to do except to watch one 30-metre drive fly narrowly wide of goal, and overall the first half was fairly even. After the interval, it was a different story as Reading moved up a gear and had far more of the ball before getting the opening goal. As is often the case, we did sit back once in the lead but defended well enough, helped by woeful shooting from distance by the Ipswich forwards.

The best chances to extend the lead fell to Forster and Murray, both of whom had powerful on-target shots deflected away by defenders. Although we were under some pressure before the sending-off, there was no doubt that with 11 men we would have won the game. As it was, we would have won the game with ten were it not for Brian Curson's late decisve intervention.

At the final whistle, Pardew ran onto the pitch and sarcastically shook the referee's hand. He should have stood in front of him to stop any of our players from taking their justified anger too far, but instead applauded the away fans and disappeared down the tunnel. John Mackie told the ref what he thought of him, and seemed to get away with it (which can only mean he was being diplomatic!). Kevin Dillon also had a word, and at least the reaction must surely have made it clear to the referee that he made serious errors.

My advice to younger readers is to get yourself training as a referee. There is clearly easy money to be made without any need to actually be any good at the role. And if you're really incompetent you get to travel the world at other people's expense.

Match notes:

Shaun Goater and Scott Murray made their full debuts for Reading.

Nicky Shorey is the fifth Reading player to be sent off at Portman Road in our last four games there.

Match preview:

Expected line-up:

--------- Hahnemann ---------
Murty Williams Brown Shorey
Murray Sidwell Harper Hughes
-------- Goater Forster --------

[As you can see above, I didn't quite get it right.]

Ticket information:

Reading fans are in the usual part of Portman Road for this game, a section of the Cobbold Stand on the side of the pitch with a capacity of 1,859. Tickets go on sale to season ticket holders (two per ticket) from Monday, 21st July, to STAR members (one per member) from Monday, 28th July, and on general sale from Wednesday, 30th July. Prices are as follows (revised twice so far from the initial version of this page):
Adults - £23 or £28
Seniors - £16 or £17
Full-time students - £16
Under-16s - £8
Wheelchair plus carer - £19
There are 336 available at the higher price and 1523 at the lower.

After 1pm on Thursday, 7th August, tickets are no longer on sale in Reading. Instead there will be admission on the gate at Ipswich , with prices £1 higher than stated above.

Home . First Team Index

News . Opposition . Reserves . Academy . Where Are They Now? . Columns . Kingsley . MadStad . Interactive . Links . Site Map