Dissapointed- The goal that Never was.

[RoyalBlue]

Because its a game and it would be nice to think that there was some element of fair play and sportsmanship left. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case. Yes, football is a business, and yes, there are potentially tens of millions of pounds at stake, but it should be remembered that it is a game played and watched primarily for enjoyment and entertainment. Winning fairly should be put above winning at all costs. Sadly this seems to have been forgotten.

Don't you realise how the statements you have made are such uncomfortable bed fellows?!!

Business & tens of millions of pounds at stake v game played and watched primarily for enjoyment and entertainment.

Those two competing interests will never sit comfortably together. If you really want the latter, forget top class professional football in the 21st Century!

Yes, I realise that. And yes, the temptation must be great to do whatever is necessary to win. But that does not mean it is impossible to rise above it. For example, a few years ago Paolo Di Canio caught the ball at Everton when he had an open goal because the 'keeper was injured. Wouldn't we all be proud of the club if the players had set an example an declined to accept the goal (leaving aside the debate as to weather that is possible of not)? Although money brings a lot of pressure to win, surely its possible to maintain a sense of sportsmanship during the matches? I'm probably being naive and too idealistic, but we could have done the right thing yesterday and set a great example. But we didn't. I don't blame RFC, Steve Coppell or the players; but I do find it sad that in modern football it has become accepted that it is ok to act against the spirit of sportsmanship in order to help you win.

Yes, I do think you are being too idealistic and hankering after a version of the professional game long since gone.

To repeat the questions I raised earlier.

Would those who would have had us act differently have been quite so vociferous in their views had our promotion or relegation depended on yesterday's result?

And if they would, how far do you extend it? Deliberately missing a penalty that shouldn't have been awarded? Or, having scored the penalty and then realising at half time that it shouldn't have been given, going back in the second half and giving a compensatory goal to the opposition? And what if you score from a blatant offside position?

What's more, don't forget that nowadays there is an awful lot of money resting on the outcome of games in terms of bets. What would the reaction of punters and the authorities be if they start seeing teams deliberately concede goals, whatever the circumstances leading up to that act?

[phil in cornwall]

I think we still have a chance to show that Reading FC and Reading supporters have a sense of fair play.

We have a home game against Watford in January and I think we should allow them to score a goal from the kick off. After all, the assistant referee's error gave an incorrect away goal not a home goal. So we should give an away goal back to Watford.

If we can't score at least 2 goals in the remaining 89 minutes of that game we don't deserve three points anyway.

[floyd__streete]

I think we still have a chance to show that Reading FC and Reading supporters have a sense of fair play.

We have a home game against Watford in January and I think we should allow them to score a goal from the kick off. After all, the assistant referee's error gave an incorrect away goal not a home goal. So we should give an away goal back to Watford.

Good grief, I hope for your sake that you are speaking tongue in cheek.

The Reading players did not cheat, the mistake was made by an official. Reading FC players and officials have not sought to gain an unfair advantage in any way and assertions to the contrary are quite disgraceful to be honest.

[eleventh earl of mar]

I think we still have a chance to show that Reading FC and Reading supporters have a sense of fair play.

We have a home game against Watford in January and I think we should allow them to score a goal from the kick off. After all, the assistant referee's error gave an incorrect away goal not a home goal. So we should give an away goal back to Watford.

If we can't score at least 2 goals in the remaining 89 minutes of that game we don't deserve three points anyway.

Are you saying that any team that beat Watford 1-0 do not deserve 3 points?

[phil in cornwall]

I think we still have a chance to show that Reading FC and Reading supporters have a sense of fair play.

We have a home game against Watford in January and I think we should allow them to score a goal from the kick off. After all, the assistant referee's error gave an incorrect away goal not a home goal. So we should give an away goal back to Watford.

Good grief, I hope for your sake that you are speaking tongue in cheek.

The Reading players did not cheat, the mistake was made by an official. Reading FC players and officials have not sought to gain an unfair advantage in any way and assertions to the contrary are quite disgraceful to be honest.

I didn't say they sought to gain an unfair advantage. However the fact remains that they did.

[phil in cornwall]

I think we still have a chance to show that Reading FC and Reading supporters have a sense of fair play.

We have a home game against Watford in January and I think we should allow them to score a goal from the kick off. After all, the assistant referee's error gave an incorrect away goal not a home goal. So we should give an away goal back to Watford.

If we can't score at least 2 goals in the remaining 89 minutes of that game we don't deserve three points anyway.

Are you saying that any team that beat Watford 1-0 do not deserve 3 points?

Not in the normal course of events.

This is exceptional.

[Victor Meldrew]

Did anybody else watch the highlights of the Wolves game?
Iwelumo got sent off but St Leger of Preston spoke up in his defence.
If his red card stands Iwelumo will be suspended for Wolves game against us but if it gets rescinded he will be able to play.
So we either get the benefit of an official's decision (what a poor one it was to send off the keeper when in a game shortly after referee Singh didn't send the keeper off for a worse challenge) or we don't get the benefit because of the sporting act of the Preston player.
Net result-what goes round comes round or we get lucky twice and if so I reckon we are then certs for promotion because of things going our way.

As for our game it did even out with Bikey's disallowed goal so although I come from an era when fair play was considered more important than winning I think there is little that we could have done yesterday other than do our usual defending like novices away from home to let Watford back into the game.

[papereyes]

Had our promotion or relegation rested on the outcome of this match ...

They do.

[papereyes]

Any link to the goal ?

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw5K9zCm7sM

A.

LOL.

[Arch]

If nothing else, Eustace deserved to have an OG chalked up to his record for that comical bit of defending. Doubly weak from Pearce for their second, as others have observed, and our whole team were defensively hesitant for their first. Anyone else think that Long had poked the ball out of his own reach and was lucky he got brought down?

Sooner this game is behind us the better.

[79Royal]

I don't think that any of our players telling the officials that the ball was no where near the goal would have changed the decision. The lino must have known that it was a goal kick and not a goal by the way the Watford players reacted. I'm certain that no player would ever claim that a ball had gone out for a goal kick, if a legal, but dubious goal had been scored. You'd argue that it didn't cross the line maybe, but not that it had missed the goal completely.

Allowing Watford to score unapposed isn't the answer either. Yes, we may have scored some brownie points with Watford and who knows what the outcome of the game would have been. If we had gone on and lost and were then beaten by Watford at home by a dodgy offside goal that they knew was offside, would they then allow us to score to even things up? I very much doubt it.

The fact that it was a monumental cock up shouldn't make a difference to our actions in the aftermath.

[SCIAG]

Did anybody else watch the highlights of the Wolves game?
Iwelumo got sent off but St Leger of Preston spoke up in his defence.
If his red card stands Iwelumo will be suspended for Wolves game against us but if it gets rescinded he will be able to play.
So we either get the benefit of an official's decision (what a poor one it was to send off the keeper when in a game shortly after referee Singh didn't send the keeper off for a worse challenge) or we don't get the benefit because of the sporting act of the Preston player.
Net result-what goes round comes round or we get lucky twice and if so I reckon we are then certs for promotion because of things going our way.

You may or may not be getting confused here. Your post indicates Iwelumo is a 'keeper- that's Hennesey.

Anyhow, there was a precedent set last year. A striker dived over a 'keeper. The 'keeper was sent off. After the match, the striker wrote to the FA and said that there was no contact. The club appealed- only to see the ban extended to 4 matches.

Also, Lita was suspended for a headbutt that didn't make contact. There doesn't have to have been contact in that situation (though in the one outlined above there does).

[Arch]

If you let them do it right away, it might make sense. Waiting til after a half time review wouldn't; too much water under the bridge by then. In any event, if you deliberately concede a goal to Watford who then survive relegation by that one goal, the relegated team could have a decent legal case against you. I think for the players and fans this has to fall into the category of shit happens. For the officials, it's quite another matter.

[SCIAG]

Another thing. Two years ago Danny Shittu scored a header for Watford that would have been offside if someone (King?) hadn 't have been holding Duberry back.

Is this karma?

[PEARCEY]

Disappointed with coppell today, we might not have gone against the rules of the game, but we went against the spirit.
There is no way we should have accepted that as a goal, once it was given and we had a chance to discuss the incident at half time we should of walked the ball into our own net. It was a real scrubby move to play on as if nothing had happened.
I know we are a terrible team away from home but we were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Its not as if it was a " you win some you lose some" goal, it was NEVER a goal in a million years and we were awarded a goal out of nowhere. There wasn't even a decision to be made, the manager, players and club should be ashamed of themselves tonight.

I can see your point FineRain but does that mean players on either side admitting that they have given away a penalty when the ref or lino doesn't see it? Does it extend to teams admitting linesmen and refs have got it wrong and that an off side decision was wrong and a goal should have stood or vice versa?
It does go both ways and really this "goal" is no less valid than "goals" we have scored or conceded in the past when players have been offside.
From what I gather based over the 90 minutes there were some crucial decisions both ways that were wrongly called and I suspect over 90 minutes it was evened up.

[Victor Meldrew]

Did anybody else watch the highlights of the Wolves game?
Iwelumo got sent off but St Leger of Preston spoke up in his defence.
If his red card stands Iwelumo will be suspended for Wolves game against us but if it gets rescinded he will be able to play.
So we either get the benefit of an official's decision (what a poor one it was to send off the keeper when in a game shortly after referee Singh didn't send the keeper off for a worse challenge) or we don't get the benefit because of the sporting act of the Preston player.
Net result-what goes round comes round or we get lucky twice and if so I reckon we are then certs for promotion because of things going our way.

You may or may not be getting confused here. Your post indicates Iwelumo is a 'keeper- that's Hennesey.

Anyhow, there was a precedent set last year. A striker dived over a 'keeper. The 'keeper was sent off. After the match, the striker wrote to the FA and said that there was no contact. The club appealed- only to see the ban extended to 4 matches.

Also, Lita was suspended for a headbutt that didn't make contact. There doesn't have to have been contact in that situation (though in the one outlined above there does).

No SCIAG,I was adding that the decision to send off Henessy was a poor one.
Despite what St Leger has said the decision against Iwelumo may well stand because he definitely moved towards St Leger even if he didn't mean to head-butt him.
Mind you Wolves have got so many decent forwards they may not miss him.

[Blue Heart]

I think we still have a chance to show that Reading FC and Reading supporters have a sense of fair play.

We have a home game against Watford in January and I think we should allow them to score a goal from the kick off. After all, the assistant referee's error gave an incorrect away goal not a home goal. So we should give an away goal back to Watford.

If we can't score at least 2 goals in the remaining 89 minutes of that game we don't deserve three points anyway.

Are you for real???

Yesterdays incident was/is very regrettable but it was the fault of the officials, they certainly did their best in the second half to more than redress the balance, do you honestly believe that if the boot(no pun intended) was on the other foot Watford would act any differently. Before the end of this season we will, I am sure have had our fair share or more, of crappy game spoiling decisions. At the very least these two hapless officials need a refresher course, before they are let loose again, they have managed to make a lot of people very irate as well as making the job harder for their colleagues.

[eleventh earl of mar]

Did anybody else watch the highlights of the Wolves game?
Iwelumo got sent off but St Leger of Preston spoke up in his defence.
If his red card stands Iwelumo will be suspended for Wolves game against us but if it gets rescinded he will be able to play.
So we either get the benefit of an official's decision (what a poor one it was to send off the keeper when in a game shortly after referee Singh didn't send the keeper off for a worse challenge) or we don't get the benefit because of the sporting act of the Preston player.
Net result-what goes round comes round or we get lucky twice and if so I reckon we are then certs for promotion because of things going our way.

You may or may not be getting confused here. Your post indicates Iwelumo is a 'keeper- that's Hennesey.

Anyhow, there was a precedent set last year. A striker dived over a 'keeper. The 'keeper was sent off. After the match, the striker wrote to the FA and said that there was no contact. The club appealed- only to see the ban extended to 4 matches.

Also, Lita was suspended for a headbutt that didn't make contact. There doesn't have to have been contact in that situation (though in the one outlined above there does).

No SCIAG,I was adding that the decision to send off Henessy was a poor one.
Despite what St Leger has said the decision against Iwelumo may well stand because he definitely moved towards St Leger even if he didn't mean to head-butt him.
Mind you Wolves have got so many decent forwards they may not miss him.

I'm sure they need their best forwards against Reading's defence.

[Avon Royal]

Disappointed with coppell today, we might not have gone against the rules of the game, but we went against the spirit.
There is no way we should have accepted that as a goal, once it was given and we had a chance to discuss the incident at half time we should of walked the ball into our own net. It was a real scrubby move to play on as if nothing had happened.
I know we are a terrible team away from home but we were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Its not as if it was a " you win some you lose some" goal, it was NEVER a goal in a million years and we were awarded a goal out of nowhere. There wasn't even a decision to be made, the manager, players and club should be ashamed of themselves tonight.

Complete drivel.

[RoyalBlue]

Had our promotion or relegation rested on the outcome of this match ...

They do.

I meant solely on this match i.e. it had been the last game of the season and a point would have made a critical difference.