If there was ever a good sign for Reading FC as they enter the new millennium it was today - luck was on our side at last. After Gillingham enjoyed the better of the game we came back not once, but twice inside the last five minutes, to steal a share of the points away from home. An away point in itself is quite some achievement but to win it so dramatically has got to put us in the right mood for Saturday's crunch relegation game at home against Blackpool. Reading went a goal down in the first half after a bright start but then allowed Gillingham to have most of the second half before scoring in the 87th minute. It looked like Reading's usual last minute bad luck would continue when the home side regained the lead in stoppage time, but then Reading hit back moments later with the last kick of the game as Williams drove a penalty home to make the game end 2-2.

Perhaps the key good point to come from this match was the return of three first team players back from injury and ready for the new year. Hodges made a start down the left in place of Potter who had returned to West Brom after his loan spell at Reading. Gray and Forster were also to come off the bench to make their return later in the match.

Nicholls, Reading's new on-loan signing from Chelsea, came straight into the team up front alongside both Scott and Williams and from the off it looked like Reading had come to take as many points as possible. We started well and could have taken the lead after Scott met a cross. Unfortunately for the Royals the ball found the crossbar and then safety rather than the back of the net. After Reading having the best of the opening twenty minutes Gillingham took it down the other end and stuck it in. The ball was crossed from the left and the shot was deflected past Howie to make it 0-1.

At half time Pardew changed the formation of the side to reduce the attack from three to two and add an extra central defender as Hunter replaced Scott. Gray came on as a straight swap for Hodges. However with Gillingham a goal up and Reading a goal down it was the home side who made the most chances of the second half as Reading failed to produce many goal scoring opportunities. Excluding a string of corners midway through the second half it wasn't until the last five minutes that we looked like grabbing a goal. With the game seemingly slipping away as a 0-1 defeat all of a sudden three goals at the death saw Reading claw something out of the game.

With three minutes of normal play remaining Smith supplied Nicholls on the edge of the Gillingham box in the centre. Nicholls let fly and the ball curved into the net past the keeper for a goal on his debut. 1-1, and it looked like we'd grabbed the point. But as the game entered injury time it looked like the home side had won back all three points. Their central defender went on a bit of a run and twisted past Gray to set it up. 1-2. Bollocks. But it wasn't over as Reading marched the ball back down the other end deep in injury time. The ball was played into the area where Primus had motored forward, Primus flicked it on and found the arm of a Gillingham defender. A clear penalty. With Caskey substituted, up stepped Martin Williams to send the keeper the wrong way and the ball firmly into the corner of the net. 2-2. And there was the final whistle much to the confusision and dismay of the home fans and players.

Gillingham will be gutted having won the game twice only to have it taken away. Reading should make the most of this point and follow it up with a much needed league win. The Royals have now gone ten league games without victory....