| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Avon Combination League | Wednesday, 11th April (7.00pm) | Bournemouth | Home | Won 4-0 |
Reading goals: Forster, own goal,
Shorey, Seddon
Attendance:
Reading line-up: Howie,
Gurney (Haddow), Shorey, N Smith, A Williams (O'Hara), Casper,
Alcott (Henderson), Hodges, Garrett, Forster, Russell
Subs not used: Birnie, S Williams
Trialists Gareth Seddon from the RAF and Alex Russell from Cambridge United played in this game.
Report from The Scribe:
This was an excellent performance in which Reading were far superior and had lots of chances whilst restricting Bournemouth to just one or two.
The first goal came after about 20 minutes when Nicky Forster ran onto a through ball and tucked it away. Despite further opportunities for Seddon, Forster and Joey Alcott, the score remained 1-0 at half-time. In the half Bournemouth's attacks nearly all ended with an offside flag, although to be fair some of the decisions looked dubious.
Right from the restart Reading extended their lead. Andy Gurney took the ball down the flank and got in a hard shot that the goalkeeper stopped but didn't hold. There were no Reading players following up, but the Bournemouth number 4 still managed to nudge it into his own net under no pressure at all!
Adie Williams had been going up into attack for corner kicks and on one of those occasions he picked up an injury. He had treatment off the field and came back on, but then hobbled off. I don't know whether this was because of a significant injury or just as a precaution but I spotted him later strapping up his leg himself, so it really can't have been that serious. Declan O'Hara replaced him and at the same time Darius Henderson replaced Alcott.
With about 15 minutes to go, we got a free-kick near the corner flag. Nicky Shorey jogged forward looking as if he was going to take it, but instead we quickly passed the ball to him. He cut inside and shot the ball past the keeper and into the net. The shot wasn't that hard and was almost a lob.
Ten minutes later Gurney picked up a yellow card for a crunching tackle and was immediately replaced by Alex Haddow. This didn't affect the flow of the game at all and in the 90th minute Seddon scored, getting the ball over the keeper at the second attempt following a cross into the box. [I know that this report originally credited the goal to Forster - it was wrong, I'm afraid! The two players were very close to each other, though.]
Looking at the two trialists, forward Gareth Seddon was fast and created a lot. He was caught offside quite often, but possesses a good shot. Alex Russell played on the left of midfield and had a quietly efficient game. He got involved and made some reasonable passes.
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