Back from the game Stevenage

[Basingstoke Royal]

Glad to get that out of the way without a replay.

Loads of possession and territory without punishing them. Diabolical defending for ten mins in second half when they scored and could have had another.

Thanks to Tring sports live coverage!

[Skin]

did it 'go off'? Any of our 'top boys' show?

[Basingstoke Royal]

did it 'go off'? Any of our 'top boys' show?

No it was on in the pub.

Nearly full strength squad but no stand out performances.

Church and robson kanu pretty poor. Long was good again and finished the goal nicely, great ball from mcanuff and Antonio was behind long queuing up at far
post.

Bring on the crawley.

[andrew1957]

Reading totally controlled the game for 65 minutes but it looked like they were happy to keep it 1-0 which is always dangerous. Then Stevenage had a good penalty shout which was turned down by the ref. The replay suggested that the ref was right and the player had looked for a leg that was not there. It gave Stevenage hope, however and they had a very good 10 minutes and scored a good goal. We weathered the pressure and showed great determination to come back from what looked like a certain draw to win late on. All in all a good day but we really should have put the game to bed much earlier.

No one stood out massively. Legs probably MOTM again. McAnuff did some very good things and a superb cross for the winner. Church completely anonymous apart from one shot. It really was his chance to shine and he did not. Antonio seemed to liven things up when he came on. Everyone else was 5 or 6 out of 10.

[Royalwaster]

Very surprised Cummings didn't play instead of Griff ... thought he deserved it after his game vs WBA!

[tomrfcurz]

Very surprised Cummings didn't play instead of Griff ... thought he deserved it after his game vs WBA!

That said, Griff played well minus one error i believe

[Bucks Dave]

One of Griff's challenges was a real cruncher which inflamed the crowd and manager and not even a yellow card.

This reminded me of the dagenham and redbridge game a couple of years ago. They fought for every ball and played some neat football. For around 10 minutes after their equaliser we hardly got out of our half. But a great cross from Jobi and a beautiful finish about five yards in front of me just about gave us the edge. Certainly the last ten or so minutes we swamped them.

Lwood was my MOM since he seemed to crop up all over the pitch.

Best chant "One punch and he knocked you out".

[Mr Angry]

Back home.

Truly poor game where Legs was MOTM, Long worked hard and got his reward right at the end and where, being in Row A, meant that I can't give any meaningful insight into shape or tactics or anything. All I can say is that its pleasing to come through the tie and that the players looked like they weren't going to take Stevanage lightly.

I thought the Reading fans were in good voice, and the banter with the 30 or 40 Stevanage schoolboys in the stand to our right was reasonably entertaining.

Very very cold though!

[parky]

We played well in the first half, always looking good when coming forward. Sinclair came on for Stevenage and that changed the game for them, our back four simply couldn't handle him, Ingimarsson then took him out for what looked like a stonewall penalty. Had the benefit of being in with their fans behind the goal and it happening right in front of me. This then spurred them on which created a dodgey 10 mins thereafter. We fully deserved the win though.

[paultheroyal]

Enjoyed the day out but that was freezing. Please tickets were on the right side of stand, good atmosphere, good banter and stood for the whole game.

First half, deserved the lead without really testing the keeper, and then saying that they had better chances.

For the next 30 mins of the second half i thought we were a mess. Not sure what happened or a change of tactics from them but they had a header chance which was probably easier to miss and they were a real threat running at the defence. Certainly nervous times after they scored. Last 15 we got hold of the game, and had chances to make it 3 or even 4. Mcdermott left it to late to make the change, and it showed with Antonio waiting to come on when they equalised. No coincidence we improved when he came on and took Robson-Kanu off.

In summary, Karacan went missing, Harte was loose again with his defending and passing. Leigertwood was great first half, had a poor 15 or so in second half but improved. Robson Kanu frustrated the hell out of me as did Church. Long looks so composed and a player full of confidence right now.

Biggest Lolz was the group of lads to my right screaming all game at Scott Minto from Sky to get his attention. He did not look up once.....because it was Johnny Phillips you numpties!!

[pea]

Very surprised Cummings didn't play instead of Griff ... thought he deserved it after his game vs WBA!

That said, Griff played well minus one error i believe

I thought Griffin was decent in the first half but his second half performance was absolutely apalling, constantly made ridiculous errors in dangerous positions and shanked clearances back accross goal and if it wasn't for Leigertwood and Federici being very alert (particularly Feds for an almost catastrophic backpass from the halfway line with the outside of his boot) then Griffin would have lost us the game. Was inexcusibly miles up the pitch during that ten minutes of Stevenage pressure for no reason leaving our central defenders completely exposed (Mills falling over twice didnt help).

Very average performance in a game we should have put to bed, but the result was right at the end of the day so no complaints.

Absolutely brilliant decision by the referee for the penalty which looked absolutely stonewall to me at first look but Ivar completely pulled out of the tackle last minute and didnt touch the player. How the ref spotted it at full speed I'll never know but he was vindicated by the tv replays. Well done ref, not often we can say that in a match these days!

[RoyalJames101]

Just got back now.

We were solid until they equalised, then the worst we've played for a while for 10 minutes, then we never looked like throwing it away. Church and Robson-Kanu were very poor, Legs was class again. Long his usual self in working his socks off for the team.

Decent atmosphere.

Bring on Crawley away!

[LJ]

We played well in the first half, always looking good when coming forward. Sinclair came on for Stevenage and that changed the game for them, our back four simply couldn't handle him, Ingimarsson then took him out for what looked like a stonewall penalty. Had the benefit of being in with their fans behind the goal and it happening right in front of me. This then spurred them on which created a dodgey 10 mins thereafter. We fully deserved the win though.

Yeah we were sat in the North Terrace too. Seemed like we were the only Reading fans in there, everyone was in Stevenage scarves, and calling Shane Long a diver and Simon Church Welsh, both of which are true statements. Just out of interest were you to the right of the goal or the left? And did you show any emotion for the goals? I nearly let out an expletive when Matt Mills let both Rob Sinclair and Darius Charles wade past him, in a matter of minutes. Was a definite penalty, and I felt for Stevenage, because they wasted some great opportunities. But really glad we took our chance and came out on top in the end. Good day out, made the 1h 45 minute queue outside the ticket office all worth it.

[westongeezer]

I was sat in the North stand with my son, good 1st half Stevenage did look threating at times but the second half our defense was shockingi was amazed we came away with a win, Griff was a joke he should of cleared the ball instead of tying to out play it, Reading nice and vocal and the Stevenage fans where to overall a enjoyable game

[londinium]

We played well in the first half, always looking good when coming forward. Sinclair came on for Stevenage and that changed the game for them, our back four simply couldn't handle him, Ingimarsson then took him out for what looked like a stonewall penalty. Had the benefit of being in with their fans behind the goal and it happening right in front of me. This then spurred them on which created a dodgey 10 mins thereafter. We fully deserved the win though.

Yeah we were sat in the North Terrace too. Seemed like we were the only Reading fans in there, everyone was in Stevenage scarves, and calling Shane Long a diver and Simon Church Welsh, both of which are true statements. Just out of interest were you to the right of the goal or the left? And did you show any emotion for the goals? I nearly let out an expletive when Matt Mills let both Rob Sinclair and Darius Charles wade past him, in a matter of minutes.

Was a definite penalty

, and I felt for Stevenage, because they wasted some great opportunities. But really glad we took our chance and came out on top in the end. Good day out, made the 1h 45 minute queue outside the ticket office all worth it.

Are you totally blind... the guy fell over Ivars leg that actually wasn't there, it was under Ivar as he was on his knees. Should have been booked for a dive.

[Billy The Fish]

The view from Row C

A massive potential banana skin skilfully negotiated.

Feds - 6 Not much to do, didn't look to have any chance with the goal.
Griff - 7 Solid. Put in one noteable crunching tackle in the second half.
Harte - 6 No messing about in the penalty area today!
Mills - 6 Seemed a bit moody and out of sorts at the start of the first half, but came back into it.
Ingi - 6 Was it him or Harte that got done for their goal?
Jem - 6 I love his effort and commitment, but please Brian can you work on his shooting. Consistently 5 yards over the bar.
Legs - 7 MOTM performance crowned with a goal. I assume we can't play him on Friday?
Jobi - 7 Stood out today as the only player in our side with the ability to go past his man.
Kanu - 5 Didn't take his defender on enough.
Church - 4 Nothing was working for him. Gave away the ball in their penalty area in the lead-up to their goal.
Long - 7 Worked hard all afternoon with little help from his strike partner. Rewarded with his goal at the end.
Antonio - 6 Good work in the short time he was on.

No 13 - 8 Best away crowd I have been in for a while. Standing throughout as well with no injuries that I am aware of.
The Lamex Stadium - 7 Nice compact league 2 ground, easy to get to, large car park, free parking.
ITV Cameraman on the roof of the East Terrace - 7 Good skills.

A concern: How long will Brian persist with Church? Obviously he must be a good player as he has earned international caps (OK, so it's only Wales) but he's just getting worse and worse at the moment, and his confidence must be shot. I think that Brian believes that if he just gives him enough time then he will suddenly come good and then kick on from there, much like what's happened with Shane. But at the moment it's like playing with 10 men, he's not anticipating the flick-ons from Shane, his passing is awful, and he doesn't carry a goal threat. It was noticeable at the end that he was embarassed enough about his own performance not to come over to the fans. I would think about loaning him out at league 1 level to help him get his confidence back.

[BenReadingFC]

Reading looked far to content to stick with the 1-nil advantage gained and try to soak up the pressure. Stevenage then bung it up a gear and with in a minute or so have equalised due to a cracking solo performance/ shit defending. After that we couldn't get hold of the ball / string any passes together. I was hoping that we'd hold on and get a draw at this point as it looked like the tide had turned. The Stevenage fans were bouncing underneath the clock. It was one way traffic attacking the Reading end. It made me think it wasn't gonna be our day. Till Jobi's cross to Longy sorted the tie. I oxf*rd love late winning goals for us, it's been a good season for these. Roll on tomorrows 5th round draw.

[Upper West Ginger]

Best chant "One punch and he knocked you out".

Second best chant:
"Worse town than Bracknell
You've got a worse town than Bracknell!"

[paultheroyal]

Enjoyed the day out but that was freezing. Please tickets were on the right side of stand, good atmosphere, good banter and stood for the whole game.

First half, deserved the lead without really testing the keeper, and then saying that they had better chances.

For the next 30 mins of the second half i thought we were a mess. Not sure what happened or a change of tactics from them but they had a header chance which was probably easier to miss and they were a real threat running at the defence. Certainly nervous times after they scored. Last 15 we got hold of the game, and had chances to make it 3 or even 4. Mcdermott left it to late to make the change, and it showed with Antonio waiting to come on when they equalised. No coincidence we improved when he came on and took Robson-Kanu off.

In summary, Karacan went missing, Harte was loose again with his defending and passing. Leigertwood was great first half, had a poor 15 or so in second half but improved. Robson Kanu frustrated the hell out of me as did Church. Long looks so composed and a player full of confidence right now.

Biggest Lolz was the group of lads to my right screaming all game at Scott Minto from Sky to get his attention. He did not look up once.....because it was Johnny Phillips you numpties!!

Forgot to add, PA announcer, turn it down a bit!

Bit harsh telling the fans to keep off the pitch at full time, only for us to go and score 30 seconds later, chants at the ready!!

[Franchise FC]

Reading totally controlled the game for 65 minutes but it looked like they were happy to keep it 1-0 which is always dangerous. Then Stevenage had a good penalty shout which was turned down by the ref. The replay suggested that the ref was right and the player had looked for a leg that was not there. It gave Stevenage hope, however and they had a very good 10 minutes and scored a good goal. We weathered the pressure and showed great determination to come back from what looked like a certain draw to win late on. All in all a good day but we really should have put the game to bed much earlier.

No one stood out massively. Legs probably MOTM again. McAnuff did some very good things and a superb cross for the winner. Church completely anonymous apart from one shot. It really was his chance to shine and he did not. Antonio seemed to liven things up when he came on. Everyone else was 5 or 6 out of 10.

Can you help me understand - 'Stevenage had a good penalty shout' compared to 'looked for a leg that was not there'.

It wasn't a good shout and the ref got it wrong - he should have booked the diver !!