When I took my seat in the North stand, I saw the smallest visiting support that I had ever seen from Sheff U in my 40 years of watching Reading.
The first 20 minutes showed me why so few had bothered making the trip.
They were devoid of ideas, second to every ball, timid in the challenge, and slower in thought and deed.
We cruised to a 2 - 0 lead without breaking into a sweat, Simonsen probably saved another 2 more; and then, after about 20 minutes, those in the hoops on the pitch colectively decided to take the rest of the game off, as it was already won.
The side became casual, then sloppy. Henderson shanked a soft goal, and it gave the blades a little lift in confidence.
Our passing
and (lack of) movement off the ball deteriorated, they scored the equaliser, and knew that our boys were not at the races.
I was expecting a resurgent side in the second half, following a justified bollocking from the manager, but whatever Brian said was interpreted by the players as giving them licence to just lump hopeless balls forward.
Sheff U got the predictable (and deserved) winner because they, quite simply, wanted it more.
Brian belatedly lost patience with the hoofball, and threw on Howard. We passed it a lot better with him in there, but it was too little, too late. against a side who were never likely to look a gift horse in the mouth.
When I was on my way back from the match, the same word was in my mind as the one that Handbags used in a previous post.
Our players were unprofessional today. Sheff U should have been cremated by half time. No excuses.