Heartbreaking results

[Nameless]

The only game I can recall shedding a tear at was the defeat to Norwich in our last game at EP.
Bolton was a tough one, Walsall was a horrible experience and Swansea was pretty disappointing but life was always going to carry on and indeed we recovered and moved on up. That Norwich game was an absolute end of an era, and a damp squib of one at that.

[genome]

I totally bawled at the Walsall match. Proper sobbing.

I was 12 though.

[tmesis]

Bolton, for me, is definitely No.1. No other game comes close. I thought we were there. I also knew that was probably our only chance, as the team was bound to break up.

2nd is possibly losing 0-2 at home to Spurs, the week before the Derby game that sent us down in 2008. I felt that was the day we went down. The game the following week was really just a formality.

Perhaps 3rd is the Swansea PO Final. Not so much at the final whistle, as I'd accepted it long before then, but at 0-3, when I knew for certain I was at yet another play-off defeat.


I was surprisingly calm about Saturday. In an odd way, it still felt like we'd achieved something.

[ruprecht]

Saturday was gutting but the Bolton defeat wins. I was shell shocked for months afterwards.

[paultheroyal]

1. Walsall
2. Swansea
3. Bolton
4. Hundreds of League games. Wigan at home in Feb was pretty hurtful, for example.

Yep, this

[Gunny Fishcake]

Maybe you have to be a certain age but Bolton without any question , then Walsall , Swansea play off finals....Fulham , Birmingham crunch premier leagues games then Arsenal SF closely followed by 5-7 Arsenal debacle

[harry]

The only game I can recall shedding a tear at was the defeat to Norwich in our last game at EP.
Bolton was a tough one, Walsall was a horrible experience and Swansea was pretty disappointing but life was always going to carry on and indeed we recovered and moved on up. That Norwich game was an absolute end of an era, and a damp squib of one at that.

Good shout on the Norwich game. Saying goodbye to Elm Park with a utterly pathetic whimper of a game. Not even able to score, leaving Kryten as the last Reading player to score at home.

I'll add an honourable mention for the Boro League Cup Quarter Final that season where the ref indicated a Reading free kick then gave it the other way once our defence had piled forward. I still hate Craig Hignett!

Last game of 2004-5 away to Wigan was pretty gutting personally. Went there with hopes of play offs only to be thoroughly beaten. Worst return trip - complete silence in the car for all those hours. At least it galvanised the squad for the following season.

The utter car crash that was Bristol Rovers at home in 1999. 0-0 at half time but you could sense it was only a matter of time. But even so, SIX!! Still hurts.

[St. Brynjar]

Too young for Bolton thank f*ck. Don't see why Saturday was heartbreaking, we played well but were by no means the better team. Would have been very surprised if Arsenal hadn't scored in the 2nd half of extra time if they hadn't in the 1st. Heartbreaking games:

1. Swansea. Nothing will beat the excitement at kick off, and the desolation about 30 minutes later.
2. Derby away. End of an era.
3. Villa home, 2013. The day we pretty much went down, and the end of McDermott & Leigertwood at Reading.
4. Villa home, 2010. No need to explain, although had the added ignominy of predicting 4-2 Villa beforehand and getting a torrent of abuse from mates.
5. Birmingham home, 2009. Sh*t end to a sh*t season.

[Green]

One that sticks in my mind was the final game at Elm Park, losing to Norwich as an already releg8d side under Tommy Burns.

The sheer hopelessness of the situation really sunk in then, only slightly ab8d by a pitch invasion and some so called supporters looting the ground of everything down to advertising hoarding and drain covers as souvenirs.

[genome]

Anyone remember the Norwich game where they won it very late on with a goal deflected off the ref's arse? Near the end of the season. That was pretty gutting, I recall.

[Winchester Royal]

Yeah, 2004 I think that was. They won the league that year and that result played a big part.

[genome]

Yeah that was right near the end of the season, and I think we were in with a very good shout of the play offs, and ended up missing out afterwards.

[tidus_mi2]

Anyone remember the Norwich game where they won it very late on with a goal deflected off the ref's arse? Near the end of the season. That was pretty gutting, I recall.

Ugh yeah I remember that one, seem to recall it hit the referee and went to a player who would have otherwise been offside by a mile if it had hit a Norwich player.

[Mr Angry]

Bolton for me.

I don't think a lot of the younger fans on here know what a damn good side that was, and having lost McGhee at a key time in the season AND finishing 2nd (when only 1 team went up due to Premier League reorganisation) to have played so brilliantly to get to 2-0 (Nogan's goal was absolutely sublime) to have then lost was very hard to take.

The fact that the team then broke up very quickly afterwards (players like Shaka, Osborn, Scott Taylor all going) was another factor; it really had an "End of an Era" feel to it, whereas Saturday, despite the heart-breaking way we lost (rather than the result itself being heart-breaking) has more of a "Start of an Era?" feel about it, as I agree with whoever said in BFTG that for the first time in a long time, it felt as if we played the way our team's DNA should play, and IF they can build on that next season with our Academy players being more experienced, the future on the pitch at least, actually looks quite positive IMHO.

[dean horrix legend]

Bolton for me.

I don't think a lot of the younger fans on here know what a damn good side that was, and having lost McGhee at a key time in the season AND finishing 2nd (when only 1 team went up due to Premier League reorganisation) to have played so brilliantly to get to 2-0 (Nogan's goal was absolutely sublime) to have then lost was very hard to take.

The fact that the team then broke up very quickly afterwards (players like Shaka, Osborn, Scott Taylor all going) was another factor; it really had an "End of an Era" feel to it, whereas Saturday, despite the heart-breaking way we lost (rather than the result itself being heart-breaking) has more of a "Start of an Era?" feel about it, as I agree with whoever said in BFTG that for the first time in a long time, it felt as if we played the way our team's DNA should play, and IF they can build on that next season with our Academy players being more experienced, the future on the pitch at least, actually looks quite positive IMHO.

+1

Agree with everything you say, top post

[Jakarta Bee]

Well Cureton's totally undeserved equaliser in April 2002 was my top one for many years until we managed to even out do that with last minute penalty miss in May 13. Still that may have been a blessing in disguise and am looking forward from afar to a small measure of a dish served cold tomorrow.

[Maguire]

Bolton was absolutely, utterly crushing. Everything about it - the fact we'd finished 2nd but not got automatic promotion, the nature of it (2-0 up and missed a penalty), and more than anything because it genuinely felt like it would be the only chance Reading ever, ever got to play in the top flight.

It makes me feel old saying it, but RFC really was a different club back then. Far smaller and more amateurish than the one we see now, and there was no sense that we'd just come back and have another ago the next season. We were a one-season deal with a cracking side destined to break up after the defeat.

Walsall - I was fine with it. We were the big boys in that division and just thought "oh well, we'll win it next year". Came second in the end.

Swansea - cracking day out on the lash. Game was over before half-time so we could all relax and get immensely drunk.

Norwich - we'd been shit for so long it was just a wholly expected anti-climax

Thinking about that Bolton game does make me realise how important it was to get away from Elm Park to progress the club, much as I miss the place.

[Blakey's Chin]

Was only 2 when Bolton occured. If speak for my dad that would be his first. As for Mine, Walsall, cried my eyes out, Villa (QF), Birmingham 09, Burnley 09. Spurs at home 08 as we only needed a draw but Swansea as my number 1. Was so excited for the game I didn't bother looking at what a good team Swansea had so genuinely thought we had a chance. The pure emotional change of the game when we pulled it back to 3-2. When Karacan hit the post is hand's down the most heartbreaking moment for me as a royal.