| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Avon Insurance Combination League | Wednesday, 23rd January (2pm) | Cardiff City | Home | Won 2-1 |
Match facts:
Reading goals: Adam Campion (80
minutes), Nathan Tyson (91 minutes, in second-half injury time)
Assists: Nathan Tyson, ?
Opposition goal: After 51 minutes
Half-time: Reading 0 Cardiff City 0
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: Alan Pardew, Kevin Dillon, Nicky Hammond,
Niall Clark, Nigel Howe, Ian Evans (Republic of Ireland assistant
manager), Phil Chapple (Peterborough United reserve team manager),
Sean O'Driscoll (Bournemouth manager), Rob Newman (Southend
United manager), David Crown (Southend United assistant manager
and ex-Reading star), Paul Brush (Leyton Orient manager), Ernie
Howe (Basingstoke Town manager), Guy Whittingham (Newport (Isle
of Wight) manager), seven Cardiff City youth players, John
Appleton, Peter Cox, Bob Crowe, Ray Curry, Chris Johnson, Elaine
Maynard, Ian Maynard, Martin Meddings, Frank Orton, Vic Sawyer,
Mike Tubb, plus 35 other human beings (66 in total) and two
Cardiff City supporters (who on this occasion did manage to
behave themselves)
Weather: Strong winds, driving rain in spells, one clap of
thunder!
Referee: Dermot
Gallagher (Banbury)
Linesmen: A Turner, O McGuiness
Reading line-up: 1 Jamie
Ashdown (13 Simon Cox, half-time), 2 Justin Cochrane, 5 Declan
O'Hara, 6 Alex Stanley, 3 Matt Robinson; 7 Adam Campion, 4 Joe
Gamble, 10 Alex Smith, 11 Nathan Tyson; 9 Darius Henderson (15
Louie Soares, half-time), 8 Basir Savage
Sub not used: 14 Steven Laidler
Reading yellow cards: None
Reading red cards: None
Match report:
The Newbury pitch is not great at the best of times, but rain before and during this game made sections of the pitch very heavy. As usual in such conditions the middle of the pitch becomes more of a quagmire whilst the wings are relatively OK. The Reading line-up had Adam Campion and Nathan Tyson playing as wide midfielders, and so from our point of view they were the players most likely to take advantage of this.
Trialist Bas Savage had been described by the club as a midfielder in advance of the game, but he is in fact a forward. He is very tall, but showed a good touch with the ball at his feet as well. He played alongside Darius Henderson in the first half, and did fairly well. I have to say that I didn't notice the other trialist, Justin Cochrane at right-back, do that much but none of the attacks down his flank ended with a goal so I guess he must have been doing OK.
Our first shot of the game came after five minutes when brilliant work by Joe Gamble in the centre of the pitch led to a shot from Savage that went just wide. The next attack featured a good run down the wing by Campion. He beat a defender near the byline very easily and crossed, but the goalkeeper parried the ball out and it was cleared. Before half-time a nice passing move ended with a Henderson effort deflected away for a corner. Those three moves were the main threats from Reading in the first half.
The first half was fairly even, but as Reading had a strong wind helping us, that suggested that the much more experienced Cardiff side were stronger. With two substitutions making our side even younger, this was shown at the start of the second half when after just five minutes Cardiff took the lead with a close range shot after Reading failed to clear a corner. As the game went on, Simon Cox was forced into action several times, making a good save after a quarter of an hour.
Reading didn't have much of the play but with fifteen minutes left Louie Soares had a shot easily saved and then five minutes later we surprisingly equalised. Tyson made a great run down the left and crossed to Campion who scored from a tight angle.
Defensive errors let Cardiff in for a couple of opportunities to grab a winner, but both were stopped by Cox, the second needing him to rush out of the area and save with his feet. Then in injury time, Tyson scored a winner, breaking away from the halfway line, and cleverly using Soares as a dummy before sprinting away from the last defender. He was able to slot the ball past the keeper, giving us a win.
Assuming that Cardiff City are thrown out of the Nationwide League, they will also be removed from the Avon Insurance Combination meaning that this would be the last time we would face them. Oh well, we can all dream.
Match notes:
Justin Cochrane and Basir Savage played this game on trial for Reading.
Cochrane is at Queens Park Rangers and made one substitute appearance for them last season in Division 1 (in which he was sent off after just 17 minutes) but has recently been told that he can leave. He used to be a midfielder but has switched to right-back which was the position he played in this game.
Savage is a forward at Walton & Hersham, who has come through their youth ranks.
Match preview:
Reading have announced the following line-up:
Jamie Ashdown, Justin Cochrane, Matt Robinson, Declan O'Hara,
Alex Stanley, Joe Gamble, Basir Savage, Adam Campion, Alex Smith,
Nathan Tyson, Darius Henderson
Subs: Simon Cox, Steven Laidler, Louie Soares
Justin Cochrane and Basir Savage are trialists, from Queens Park Rangers and Walton & Hersham respectively.
Ticket information:
None.
News . First Team . Opposition . Academy . Where Are They Now? . Columns . Kingsley . MadStad . Interactive . Links . Site Map