ESPN CLASSICS

[Stranded]

Re: The defending. The team was shattered by the second half. We put so much effort into playing an expansive attacking game in the first against what was a very good, physically fit Bolton side. We knew we had to attack them otherwise they would attack us. We did so admirably but it just wasn't enough, although it should have been with the penalty.

Completely agree Mcateer should have been sent off and we would have won if it had. He was amazing in the second half/extra time. His best ever game no doubt - drove them on.

What an amazing game. What an effort. So close but no cigar.

Having spoken to Ady Williams about the game a couple of months ago it wasn't so much that they were knackered more than they were simply falling apart - about half the side we played that day wouldn't have played under normal circumstances.

They were fit enough to have coped normally but their bodies just gave up in the end.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

The phrase scarred for life springs to mind,the football that had been played that season was sublime,

Strange how we get a RTG view as time goes by.

Its very easy to forget that we were hopless for 3 months of that season when Osborn was injured. People forget losing pathetically to bottom of the table Notts County, Tranmere easily doing the double over us, and an abject 3-0 home defeat to Barnsley. Not to mention the countless times Shaka turned heavy defeats into narrow wins.

Anyway, whilst i was gutted when Bolton equalised, the defeat didnt get to me that much. I couldnt get down about finishing 2nd on the back of winning the league the year before. The McGhee era was arguably the most pivotal and most enjoyable in our history. Losing to Walsall in Cardiff hurt a lot lot more.

[floyd__streete]

Losing to Walsall in Cardiff hurt a lot lot more.

^ this. The worst of it - other than the not again! factor - was that we now had plush facilities and people were expecting better than 3rd tier football. In 1995 it was all an unexpected bonus.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Losing to Walsall in Cardiff hurt a lot lot more.

^ this. The worst of it - other than the not again! factor - was that we now had plush facilities and people were expecting better than 3rd tier football. In 1995 it was all an unexpected bonus.

Nah I think Bolton was far worse than Walsall. I think with Walsall we were always likely to go up the next season with the set up we had. With Bolton if we'd won it would have been amazing particularly for the fans who'd watched Reading in the 4th div 10-15 years earlier to have seen Man U, Arsenal etc at Elm Park even if we'd have almost certainly gone down.

[Archie's penalty]

Losing to Walsall in Cardiff hurt a lot lot more.

^ this. The worst of it - other than the not again! factor - was that we now had plush facilities and people were expecting better than 3rd tier football. In 1995 it was all an unexpected bonus.

Nah I think Bolton was far worse than Walsall. I think with Walsall we were always likely to go up the next season with the set up we had. With Bolton if we'd won it would have been amazing particularly for the fans who'd watched Reading in the 4th div 10-15 years earlier to have seen Man U, Arsenal etc at Elm Park even if we'd have almost certainly gone down.

100 % agree.

It's like if Blackpool lose this time out.

[Nick Shorey my Lord!]

Losing to Walsall in Cardiff hurt a lot lot more.

^ this. The worst of it - other than the not again! factor - was that we now had plush facilities and people were expecting better than 3rd tier football. In 1995 it was all an unexpected bonus.

No no no and a thousand times no. Knowing you were that close to the big league > knowing you'll probably go up the following season. I was 17 and I have never (and have never since) felt so crap after a game. Utter dejection especially as I said when Archie missed, that we were going to loose.

Some other points to note about our defending at the time. In the first 10 minutes (5 maybe) Mr Thompson should of been sent off for an appalling challenge on our Polish international. Our otherwise superb, mastermind at the back was never the same for the rest of the game.

Bolton had already played at Wembley that year in the league cup (lost to Arsenal I think) and I firmly believe that gave them an advantage over us since they really knew how to play on that surface. Remember, this pitch was wide and flat - the complete opposite to EP!

I watched the Bolton game for the first time and I can honestly see the parallels with the Villa game. We play really well from kick off, go in 2-0 up. We come out second half second best and we don't know what's hit us. Then the rape ensues.

This was exactly why some of us who were at this game knew what was coming!! We said the very thing.

[PEARCEY]

^ I walked away from the Walsall game only mildly disappointed. We were piss poor that day and losing the game came as no surprise against opponents who we have always had problems with down the years.
The Bolton game was something else. I really did think we would never reach top-flight football after that game. It took me ages to get the game out of my head. For weeks after I just couldn't get it out of my head that we had lost a game that we should have had won by half-time.

[Baines]

They had the "highlights" on ESPN again this morning. The first time I'd seen it since.

"Quinn is the regular penalty taker...is it Simon Osborn?...it's not Osborn, it's Lovell"

Walsall left me feeling a bit deflated; the Bolton game left me heartbroken. It's hard to understand why people would be more depressed by the Walsall defeat, unless they were too young or too drunk in '95, or possibly not drunk enough in 01.

Oh, and fuck off Pleat.

[Archie's penalty]

15 years later still feel sad when I think about that game. Walsall left me deflated, Bolton devastated. Closest I have felt to the football club in a sad way although was pretty down when we got relegated in 2008.

[glass half full]

Yes, we lost and I still hurt after all these years.

What really hurt was the thuggish way that Bolton went into a number of their tackles, not picked up by a weak referee. The other Bolton Mc (can't remember his name!) was guilty of a number of 'agricultural' tackles.

I know it is all 'water under the bridge' now but, as a Reading fan, I am still upset at the injustice of it all. Roll on when we can return to the Premiership and trounce Owen Coyle's Bolton!

[bobbybottler]

Remember, this pitch was wide and flat - the complete opposite to EP!

NSML I'm agreeing with everything you've written except for the bit above. EP was a short and wide pitch.

[Chaney]

my abiding memory, just after Coyle scored to make it 2-1 i couldn`t take the tension so I went down to the concourse and just paced up and down for about 10-15 minutes, then I decided to go back to my seat, I got to the top of the steps leading into the stadium when they scored the equaliser...

[Wimb]

Quinny should have brought himself on to take the pen

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Obv everyone has their own different take, but i just dont understand the depression after the Bolton game.

ive been following since 1979 and the 2 years prior to this game were just a fairytale. only a few years earlier we were bankrupt. We go from that to 2nd in whats now the CCC with a League 1 Title as well. I just couldnt get down about that having watched so much rubbish in the years before. I was gutted at the game itself, but not after.

And were you really looking forward to watching Reading move out of EP to play at a half full Loftus Road?

Walsall, the expectation was huge. We should have won the league and looked certs for automatic all season. in 95 we didnt get close. It must have been the expectation factor. As the saying goes, the bigger they are the harder they fall.