| Competition | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Avon Insurance Combination League Cup | Thursday, 31st January (2pm) | Swindon Town | Didcot | Won 2-1 |
Match facts:
Reading goals: Scott Williams (31
minutes), Nathan Tyson (33 minutes)
Assists: Alex Smith, Andre Boucaud
Opposition goal: After 43 minutes
Half-time: Reading 2 Swindon Town 1
Gamebreaker: Final whistle
Attendance: About 60, including Alan Pardew, Kevin Dillon,
Nicky Hammond, David Downs, Andy King (Swindon Town manager),
Malcolm Crosby (Swindon Town assistant manager), Steve Wicks (ex-Chelsea
player and now an agent)
Weather: Dry, exceptionally windy
Referee: K Barnes
Linesmen: N Appleby, J Flynn
Reading line-up: 1 Jamie
Ashdown, 2 Justin Cochrane, 5 Declan O’Hara, 6 Matt
Robinson, 3 Alex Stanley; 7 Scott Williams, 8 Matt Birnie, 4
Andre Boucaud (Steven Laidler, 69 minutes), 11 Alex Smith; 9
Basir Savage, 10 Nathan Tyson (16 Louie Soares, 91 minutes)
Sub not used: 13 Jamie Young, 14 Ricky Allaway
Reading yellow cards: None
Reading red cards: None
Match report:
My last reserve match report started by not being very complimentary about AFC Newbury's pitch. Well, they got found out this week as they were unable to stage this game and so no doubt lost out on the huge proceeds they normally rake in from the visits of Reading. Instead the game was switched to Didcot Town, who have a much better pitch, and to my eyes a better set-up all round. There was a very very strong wind blowing from one end of the pitch to the other, and this favoured Reading in the first half.
The effects of the wind were noticable immediately. A Swindon Town shot was going wide anyway, but the wind caught hold of it and in the end the ball never even left the pitch. There was also a comical goal kick where the Swindon keeper only just managed to get the ball out of the penalty area and one of his defenders headed it straight back to him! Most kicks from the goalkeeper failed to reach the centre circle, whilst at point in the half Alex Smith even tried a shot from 45 yards that with the help of the wind nearly beat the keeper.
The first real shot of the game came from Andre Boucaud, playing in the centre of the Reading midfield, after about 20 minutes but was easily saved. A few minutes later, Matt Birnie just failed to get onto the end of a good inswinging cross from the right that took full advantage of the conditions, whilst in a rare incursion into our half of the pitch Swindon forced Jamie Ashdown into a reflex save when an unmarked attacker hooked a fierce shot goalwards.
Just after another Boucaud shot had gone narrowly wide, Reading took the lead with a superb move that started on the left side of midfield near the halfway line. Alex Stanley played a one-two with Alex Smith and then passed the ball to trialist Basir Savage. Smith had continued to run down the wing and Savage played a perfectly weighted pass for him to run on to. Smith's cross from the byline went to the far post, where Scott Williams fired the ball home off the crossbar with a spectacular scissors kick.
Two minutes later it was 2-0 when Boucaud tapped the ball over the last line of defence where Nathan Tyson, beating the offside trap, ran onto it and chipped the keeper. Another good move nearly extended our lead, and surprisingly ended with centre-back Matt Robinson latching onto the ball on the edge of the area but his shot was deflected wide for a corner.
Although he took part in this move, Robinson had had a shaky start at the centre of defence but improved as the half went on. However, for the second half he and Stanley swapped places so that Robinson was in his more normal left-back position.
Before that, though, Swindon pinched a goal just before half-time. It came from a corner and was scored by a simple header. In our last chance of taking advantage of the wind, Tyson put a Smith cross just wide.
Very early in the second half, the floodlights were put on - this is at 3pm remember! For the rest of the game you could see the shadows wobbling as the pylons attempted to fall over in the face of the howling gale, and fortunately failed to manage it.
In the first 25 minutes of the second half, it was all one-way traffic. Swindon practically camped in our half, and on the only two occasions that Reading managed to cross the halfway line, Tyson was given offside. Adding to the pressure was the fact that we kept conceding free-kicks. Despite the possession that Swindon had, there were few clearcut chances of an equaliser.
Towards the end of the game, Reading managed to get more of the ball, but it was during this period that our goal was most seriously threatened. Ashdown had to make one good save from an angled free-kick hit low and hard, and then made a superb save to tip the ball over the bar after we had lost possession on the edge of the penalty area.
A Swindon substitute tried to recreate the Scott Williams goal, although from the other side of the pitch, but his scissors shot failed to find the target. Then with just a couple of minutes left, another free-kick was blocked but not fully cleared, and Ashdown needed to turn a shot away for a corner. From that corner he had to make another, but easier, save.
Reading were able to break downfield and a Steven Laidler cross was hit onto the bar by Tyson. Incredibly the linesman flagged Tyson offside, despite the fact that Laidler was almost at the byline when he crossed and Tyson had run from deeper than the defenders anyway. So it was probably just as well that it didn't go in.
Tyson had been fouled a couple of times and in injury time he went off to be replaced by Louie Soares. He had practically no time at all to make an impact, as the referee very soon ended the game.
With the Reading squad down to the bare minimum of two real centre-backs, the trial of Matt Robinson in that position at this game was a sensible move, but I don't think it really worked. Trialist Bas Savage had another good game - he is big and tall but has a really good touch, which was in evidence throughout the game (and as I described above that helped in our first goal). Again I have to say that I did not really notice Justin Cochrane - like the rest of the defence he had nothing much to do in the first half but he must have played a part in the second half clean sheet. Perhaps it's just that the opposition didn't have left-sided players and so our right-back had a quiet game.
Match notes:
Justin Cochrane and Basir Savage played this game on trial for Reading. For both of them it was their second reserve game with us.
You can see all the League Cup group table standings by clicking here.
Match preview:
Reading have announced the following line-up:
Jamie Ashdown, Justin Cochrane, Alex Stanley, Andre Boucaud,
Declan O’Hara, Matt Robinson, Scott Williams, Matt Birnie,
Basir Savage, Nathan Tyson, Alex Smith
Subs: Jamie Young, Steven Laidler, Ricky Allaway, Louie Soares
Justin Cochrane and Basir Savage are trialists, from Queens Park Rangers and Walton & Hersham respectively.
The game was moved at almost the last minute from the waterlogged AFC Newbury pitch to Loop Meadow Stadium in Didcot.
Ticket information:
None.
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