Most gutting moment as a Reading fan.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Watching Fulham beat Pompey was pretty gruesome. Particularly when we were 4-0 up at Derby.

I felt worse after we lost to Spurs the previous week. That was the day I felt we got relegated. I went to Derby accepting we'd go down.

[Geekins]

Portsmouth 7-4 Reading

[cmonurz]

I'm post Bolton, so its the Walsall play-off final for me, not least because we led in extra-time, it was then I was convinced we were going up. Being in the bottom behind the opposite goal to Walsall's two winning goals only made the feeling of helplessness even greater.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

The play off finals have not worked out well for Reading.

Sitting in my seat following the final whistle after the defeats to Bolton and Walsall were the worst moments for me thinking what it could have been.

Going down from the premier at Derby on last game of the season having won 4-0 when Portsmouth Reserves lost to Fulham 1-0 was pretty bad. Again, Oh what it could have been!!

[Archie's penalty]

The Bolton game and the depressing loss of players in the summer after it.

The breakdown of the 2005-6 glory side is hitting me pretty hard.

Two greatest sides in our history and I was there to experience it. All good things come to an end...

Again being so young I understand I might not have appreciated it fully but we only lost Osborn, Taylor and Shaka that summer didn't we? Ok they were huge players but we still had 10/12 that played at Wembley in the team. Was there a real feeling that we'd never repeat that success? Were Meaker + (mass of goalkeepers in 05/06) considered that inferior at the time?

I thought we lost more players than just them. Didn't Wdowczyk retire?

Hislop Left, Wdowczyk Retired, Bernal (Hopkins), Williams Left to Wolves the next season, McPherson Too old, GilkesStarted to age, TaylorLeft, OsbournLeft, GoodingGot old, Nogan Lost form (Quinn), Lovell Went to Kilmarnock the next year

Maybe it was the combined factor of depressing loss vs. Bolton + the fact I didn't think we would ever make it to the top flight.

Our loss of players since the summer of 2008 has been endemic...

[M-U-R-T-Y]

I was at both play off finals, although I don't remember the Bolton one for some reason - I was six, but I have earlier memories than that... Odd. So, Walsall probably takes the cake.

Also, Wolves in the Play Offs '03, specifically seeing Alex Rae's shot fly in, my heart just sank.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Very melancholy and nostalgic day on HNA today

I am in a minority I think of going for Walsall play-off fianl loss. Loss to Bolton was gutting, but I was only 15 and thought it would come around again. It did. Losing to Walsall with their 15,000 fans in the corner of a ground full of Reading 'fans' and as overwhelming favourites to win was devastating. Coming 5 years after Wembley, the feeling of 'not again, why us' took a long while to wear off.

I want us to win a play-off final one day. That said, I also want to sleep with Kimberley Walsh which is equally unlikely.

I had almost forgotten the sight of that end of the ground celebrating how Byfield beat Whitehead still grates on me

I was more gutted afterthat game than any other. That Byfield goal made me feel sick, never felt that before at a game.

94/95 just seemed too good to be true at the time, made it easier to deal with.

Getting relegated on my 16th Birthday at Home to Hull wasn't exactly a bright spot either.

[papereyes]

The Walsall play-off final doesn't come close to the crushing and all-encompassing disappointment of the Bolton final, imo. For some reason, I never thought we were going to beat Walsall, whereas I was sure we were going to beat Bolton before the game, and I only got more certain as the game got underway.

I think the comic manner in which we lost to Walsall makes it feel less worse. Rougier's best finish in RFC colours and its in the wrong end. But also, there was a feeling of "OK. Next season then" to it.

I first watched the Bolton game the Sunday after we got promoted in 2006. I was in France at the time of the game itself and listened to it on the radio. We had a tape of the game which sat unwatched for over a decade.

Was there a real feeling that we'd never repeat that success?

I think only because of our history. My memory of the mid-90s is patchy mind. Slight sense of club treading water and trying to hold on until they moved to Smallmead/Madejski.

Lovell Went to Kilmarnock the next year

No. He left a few seasons later but iirc was off and on with injuries for the two, three seasons that followed Wembley.

[Rawlie19]

Watching Fulham beat Pompey was pretty gruesome. Particularly when we were 4-0 up at Derby.

Why were you watching Fulham? If you couldn't get to the Derby game surely it was better to listen to them on the radio than to go and watch Fulham?

[Sun Tzu]

The 6-0 home defeat to Bristol Rovers and the anticlimactic final game at Elm Park are possibly it for me.

Non eof the playoff defeats were that much of a downer for me. The Bolton game was a great footballing event, the Walsall one was just a lower division playoff (!). The relegation game at Derby was a good day out, no one who was actually there can really say it was a 'bad' day. It wasn't that game that cost us !

[Handsome Man]

The whole last half hour against Burnley shook me quite badly - that Hahneman mistake, followed by Coppell's resignation substitutions.

The worst was Wolves equalising to end the winning run.

[winchester_royal]

Watching Fulham beat Pompey was pretty gruesome. Particularly when we were 4-0 up at Derby.

Why were you watching Fulham? If you couldn't get to the Derby game surely it was better to listen to them on the radio than to go and watch Fulham?

Fulham was on setanta with Reading on radio in background.

[rhroyal]

In 2008 I expected us to be embarrassed and be held by Derby, and go down in with a whimper. However throughout the week I believed that if we did get the win then that would be enough to keep us up. When we were 3-0 up and we approached 70 minutes or so with Fulham level I honestly thought we'd do it. Was a truly gutting moment. Over the season we only had ourselves to blame - but at that point to go down when we'd done all we could on the day was the worst it's been for me as a Reading fan.

[papereyes]

The 6-0 home defeat to Bristol Rovers and the anticlimactic final game at Elm Park are possibly it for me.

My memory of this one is shady as I actually spent that afternoon fingering a goth bird in the bushes of Forbury Gardens

[M-U-R-T-Y]

The whole last half hour against Burnley shook me quite badly - that Hahneman mistake, followed by Coppell's resignation substitutions.

Yeah, I felt pretty empty in those 30 minutes. Specifically the way the team just completely gave up made me feel horrible.

[Focher]

Bolton was not a problem for me, we were a small club with no infrastructure and had an unbelievable season. Walsall on the other hand did drive me to drink for 48hrs.

[Archie's penalty]

The whole last half hour against Burnley shook me quite badly - that Hahneman mistake, followed by Coppell's resignation substitutions.

Yeah, I felt pretty empty in those 30 minutes. Specifically the way the team just completely gave up made me feel horrible.

+1.

And Coppell's resignation which brought a feeling of depression which lasted for a month...

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Anyone remember Norwich at home in 04/05? The late goal they were given with the help of the referee's back... can't remember being that angry for a long time.

[CMRoyal]

The Bolton playoff must surely win by a mile - not just for the on-the-day turn of events, but by the fact that it was all compounded by the knowledge that in every other season we would have gone up automatically.

[Arnie_Pie]

Walsall play off final by a long long way.

Agree with that. I was so pissed off after that game.