| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Avon Combination League | Wednesday, 7th February (1.30pm) | Bristol City | Home | Won 2-0 |
Reading goals: Gamble, Etherington
Attendance:
Reading line-up: Ashdown, Allman,
Shorey, Etherington, Mackie, N Smith, Evers, Gamble, Alcott,
Izzet, Haddow (Laidler)
Subs not used: Birnie, O'Hara
This was originally an away match, but Bristol City have been moving a few of their games away from Ashton Gate just recently, and this one was switched to Farnborough Town. Then because the Farnborough pitch was yet again unplayable, it was finally switched to Palmer Park. It says a lot when a supposedly professional outfit like Bournemouth and a non-league team such as Farnborough are unable to produce a playable pitch, but a council ground like Palmer Park can.
Reading fielded four trialists in this game - right-back Anthony Allman from Charlton, left-back Nicky Shorey from Leyton Orient, Kemal Izzet from Charlton, and midfielder Craig Etherington from West Ham.
Report from The Scribe (except that I've replaced all references to O'Hara by Laidler!):
This was a game in which Reading had most of the possession, and were on top for most of the game. We generally tried to pass the ball around - some of the passes went astray, but that was because with four trialists on the pitch, the players didn't really know each other. Brisotl City had only one real tactic, which was to lob long balls forward for their two tall forwards.
Nothing much happened in the first 20 minutes, but then Reading took the lead. There was some good work before the ball broke loose in the area where Joe Gamble was able to knock it in from eight yards. In the first half, Bristol City did make two good chances, but failed to take them. Their best was when one of the forwards had a one-on-one with Jamie Ashdown but he put the ball wide when it looked easier to score.
In the second half, again little happened until halfway through the half Steven Laidler replaced Alex Haddow. It seemed that Laidler's presence shook things up, and in particular he shook up the Bristol City number 4 with about 20 minutes to go! Laidler caught his ankle with a dodgy tackle on the edge of the area. In return, the Bristol player attempted to head-butt Laidler but may or may not have made contact. There was also a bit of shoving and the end result was that Laidler got booked for the tackle whilst the Bristol City player was sent off for the retaliation.
With a man advantage, Reading got a second goal when Laidler played the ball to Craig Etherington about 16 yards out from the goal and just to the right of the penalty spot. Etherington put in a shot along the ground which was not hit hard but was well placed to go in at the far corner.
Bristol City had looked dangerous using their tall men in set-piece situations, but the only other good chance in the match was when a Reading player (probably Joe Gamble) broke through on goal but was only able to send his shot straight at the keeper. The reason for this was that he was desperately trying to keep his balance whilst having his shirt almost yanked off his back by a defender. How we did not get a penalty, I will never know.
Of our four trialists, the two full-backs did well, and Etherington definitely appeared worthy of a second look. Izzet made a lot of neat passes but they were not very penetrative.
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