The latest addition of the Vital Reading blog
Well I told you last weekend`s game with Doncaster would be entertaining, but not sure I thought it would be as action packed as it turned out to be! The game had the best and the worst of Reading FC all rolled into one, and possibly proved why we are not serious contenders for the automatic promotion places. After taking a well deserved lead we put in one of the worst defensive displays for a long while with Ian Harte at fault for at least two of the goals we conceded. Then he steps up at the other end to score on of the best free kicks you have seen in a while at the Madejski Stadium! Simon Church`s winner just goes to show the desire we have at the club right now and it`s only fair we focus on the positives after such a fine win.
It is also an excuse to talk about some other Mad Stad classic encounters and it was almost 10 years to the day that we came from behind to beat Oxford (yes it really is that long ago!). At the time the 16, 022 fans packed into the stadium looked massive and we had the best possible start when Darren Caskey gave us the lead from the spot. Our local rivals equalised before the break but a Jamie Cureton goal in the second half looked as though it would be enough to secure the points – how wrong we were! Adi Viveash put through his own net before the visitors took the lead. Tony Rougier was thrown on and he popped up with his first goal for the club to level matters before a late winner in the pouring rain from ‘The Rouge` made it 4-3 to the Royals. That win sent us top of the old division two!
Back to matters present and a tough old trip to QPR on Saturday, a game that is being talked up as another potential classic. Two teams who are intent on attack, both on a good run of form, so it must have 0-0 written all over it! Rangers are unbeaten so far this season but have drawn the last four games, however their record at Loftus Road has seen only Burnley score past Paddy Kenny, and that was a penalty.
In other news of course Shane Long has signed a new contract, which is good news for the club but I was surprised at the length of contract. He added just another year to his current deal that was due to expire at the end of the season and for such a young player I thought we would have offered him at least a deal until 2013. Perhaps that is a sign of how short of cash the club is?
