Reading 4 Plymouth 3

[The Cap]

The Goat was fed wrote:

I heard a story that at half time as they walked off the pitch Gary Peters took a side bet with Plymouth's Leigh Cooper (a Reading lad originally) that Reading would still win, and was quids in aftwerwards.

I used to play football with the Coopers before two of them became pros. Adie was the eldest and as we know went on to dabble with Reading and Spurs. Paul didn't make it into the professional game (not that I'm aware of anyway). And of course Leigh,the youngest, played for the Pilgrims before going on to manage Truro City.

When Plymouth returned a few seasons later and done us 1-0 at EP, Leigh smiled afterwards and quipped, "We owed you that one".

[cavroyal]

Reading 4 Plymouth 3

I'll never forget the Argyle fans giving it the big one when John Clayton scored their third, just after half time in the Town End, up on the fences and all that. Not for long though...

Imagine then the total mayhem, jubilation, chaos, call it what you like, that was to follow in the Southbank as we came back from the dead, to win this game. During that mad 4 minutes it was one of those moments where you were just hugging anybody around you, and back then it was all pretty much all hardcore fans, Reading through and through.

To this day, the total and utter jubilation late that dark, dreary afternoon under the Elm Park floodlights, was one of my best memories in football, and a bit of a tear up with a few Argyle outside Reading West on the way home was all part of the fun!

Happy days!

[Cpl Jones Dont panic]

Plymouth fans in the VIctory before hand, turned it into a sea of green , with grat banter about their local derby with us.

A match that will never be repeated for passion and unfolding events. Maybe the only time I HAVE ever seen both teams go off to a standing ovation for all sides of he ground.

Wish there was a recording of that day

[The Cap]

cavroyal wrote:

During that mad 4 minutes it was one of those moments where you were just hugging anybody around you, and back then it was all pretty much all hardcore fans, Reading through and through.

Mate,you are so right.

[Madstad to Nadderud]

Good memories with Senior and Mad Max up front. It is about time that Reading found a new striker partnership because even with Coppell it was a mixture of Kitson, Doyle, Lita, and Long and they didn't always combine.

[Mr Irascible]

For those who like reading about great Reading comebacks...

[SpaceCruiser]

30 years ago today, I went to my first ever football game and it was this one, Reading staging a great comeback to win 4-3. I don't remember a lot about this game!

[Royal With Cheese]

Still the best game I've ever seen. Just perfect. Makes me feel very old knowing it was 30 years ago!

[floyd__streete]

6 and a half years later John Clayton had a trial at Reading and scored a nice freekick for us in a pre-season 1-1 draw against a Manchester United XI.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

6 and a half years later John Clayton had a trial at Reading and scored a nice freekick for us in a pre-season 1-1 draw against a Manchester United XI.

Nicely off topic there. The Man Utd XI that contained loads of kids no one had ever heard of. You win nothing with kids...

[Ark Royal]

Happy Plymouth Day, everyone!

[Ark Royal]

6 and a half years later John Clayton had a trial at Reading and scored a nice freekick for us in a pre-season 1-1 draw against a Manchester United XI.

Excellent recall skillz there, Floyd.

[handbags_harris]

6 and a half years later John Clayton had a trial at Reading and scored a nice freekick for us in a pre-season 1-1 draw against a Manchester United XI.

Excellent recall skillz there, Floyd.

To complete the symmetry I'm fairly confident Russell Beardsmore scored the United equaliser, also from a free kick if memory serves me rightly?

[John Smith]

This sounds like the original version of the O*ford thriller in 2000

[SpaceCruiser]

This sounds like the original version of the O*ford thriller in 2000

Not quite.

The Reading v Plymouth game went like this: 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 1-3, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3

Whereas the Reading v Oxford game went like this: 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3

[Moonfish]

I've lost count of the number of times my Dad has spoken about this game, it must have been incredible to witness.

I don't suppose there is footage of the game floating around anywhere? I had a quick search on YouTube without any success, it would be great if I could show him the highlights again, although maybe they won't live up to the memories?

[Crowbar6753]

For me this was the best game i have had the pleasure to witness, the scenes and sheer joy in the South Bank that day were amazing. The turn around was unreal, and the look on the Plymouth fans at the end was of utter dis belief
The only game for me that came close to the sheer joy of that match was the 2-1 beating of Wolves when "Archie Lovell" scored two goals in the 90th and 93rd minutes to win a game that we never ever looked like winning, and shut up the Wolves fans who had been taunting us all afternoon. And of course this was to much for the Wolves fans to handle and i remember then kicking off outside the ground afterwards (Sore Losers)

[BonBoh]

My first season. The 13 games plus this gave me an unreasonable belief that we could win any game no matter what the score going into the final 30 minutes. This belief was tested somewhat in the following years.

Interestingly, I still have that belief in me to this day. I am always gutted when we roll over and give up without trying.
With Brian at the helm we'll go back to good old 'Reading time'...

[The Cap]

Forgot to add that the weather was 'cats and dogs' and that the main chant from the Southbank was, 'You came all this way and you lost, and you lost. You came all this way and you lost, and you lost'

[Ark Royal]

I've lost count of the number of times my Dad has spoken about this game, it must have been incredible to witness.

I don't suppose there is footage of the game floating around anywhere? I had a quick search on YouTube without any success, it would be great if I could show him the highlights again, although maybe they won't live up to the memories?

Unfortunately not. The club started doing videos that season, but only after the New Year (1986). I have VHS videos of the home games against Derby and Doncaster.