A identical Reading line-up from Saturday succeeded only in playing like a completely different team tonight. All of the problems of last season were on display in disgraceful fashion. 10 minutes of brightness towards the end of a very dull encounter do not excuse what went before.

It was the lowest crowd ever to watch a competitive football match at the Madejski Stadium, the thousands that stayed away obviously knew what a shite game this would be - they could have told us. Or maybe we were just stupid, Reading clearly had no interest tonight. It's easy to point the figure and claim that nothing has changed during the close season and we're due another season of mid-table Division Two boredom. However we should remember that this was the first round first leg of the Worthington Cup - a competition more in decline now than ever. But still it doesn't excuse what was on display tonight. No Reading fan should be subjected to watching that after paying decent money and giving up their evening. Perhaps Burns was just trying to get us out. I hope so, otherwise there's no excuse.

Peterborough should have won it well before the last ten minutes. They'll be very disappointed not to have won this one and would easily have done so with a bit more luck in front of goal. Reading were doing all they could to gift Peterborough a goal or two but the away side didn't seem to want to accept our kind offers of victory. Against a decent side desperate for victory we'd have definitely been on the end of a nine or ten goal demolition tonight.

Howie was obviously under instruction to make a complete twat out of himself inside the Reading box. No calling for the ball, no organization with the defence and a couple of suicidal attempts to gather balls flying right across and out of the area. One of these many instances should have been the Posh take the lead in the first half of the first half. The ball was crossed but going diagonally out of the box to the left corner. Howie continued chasing, ran into a player and was left stranded as the ball was lobbed in towards the goal. The ball bounced off the right post and back into play. With the goal still empty the resulting shot was fortunate to hit a Royals defender rather than the back of the net.

Peterborough continued to look the far more determined of the two sides. Reading failed to string more than two passes together all half - except when playing backwards or sideways within our own half. Hunter and Polston were solid enough in the middle of defence to restrict the number of shooting chances 'Boro had, but they still commanded the midfield and were enjoying knocking it around making it look like they were a division higher. Sure enough there was some hoofing around - but more than the fair share came from Hunter at the back for Reading. Their number 7, despite the shite hair, was responsible for a couple of moves that linked together only to find the final shot fly well wide. Their number 29 was given a couple of great opportunity but must have been playing in a pair of boots too big for him or something, otherwise he'd have stuck at least one away.

While Reading failed to get a single shot on target, Peterborough could have snuck ahead again before half time with a free kick in a central position not far outside the box that needed Howie to push over the bar.

Caskey, not having his best game (but who was) was replaced by the hero from Saturday - Crawford - as the teams came out for the second half. And followed more of the same from the first half. Reading were completely static - unable to string passes together and unable to move forward. Ineffective, indirect, and completely boring. I could have cut and paste that from one of last season's match reports. When we had the ball no-one would move into space. Not a single ball down the wing, and no running into space. Even a hoof over the top would have produced more danger and excitement. I'm making it sound better than it was. Gray was a prime culprit, when given the ball in acres of space he was completely unprepared to run with it - forwards into the huge gap in front of him. Instead he'd stand still, wait for Peterborough to get back and pack their defence and then pass it sideways or back. Shite. But it's unfair to pick him out - this was the general Reading tactic - to seemingly just play time out for the 0-0. If this was planned as no more than a below average kick around we should have been let in free.

Players who'd performed well on Saturday seemed to want to bring themselves down to the same level as the rest of the team. Hunter, after a reasonable first half, seemed determined to get himself sent off. After a first half booking we bought a player down right on the corner of the area and seemed to get far more dirty than usual in search of his second yellow - which never game. Gurney wasted a superb chance by offering a weak shot from distance along the ground instead of playing the ball to his right into the path of McIntyre (who had come on for Hodges) who was waiting in space.

Andy Bernal finished last season looking shite. Disturbing then that he came on for McLaren during the second half and actually looked better. McLaren was practically non-existant. We need Murty back as soon as possible - tonight we lacked any kind of running with the ball. Where's Glasgow when we need him? Inconsiderate bastard taking drugs.

Peterborough continued to look the better side for the vast majority of the second half. It was miraculous that they didn't take the lead. Two shots from outside the area, found Howie sticking out an arm and twisting the ball over the bar after it had been hit with some force. Why not catch? He carried on with the same as the first too - running all over the place in the area to get impossible balls and leaving an open goal. Once he gifted the number 29 with a chance again but thankfully it was fired well behind the goal. Martin, the number 29, almost had his moment of glory before being substituted. He battled through three players on the left, side footed a cross inside the area, short and low, but the resulting shot from the Peterborough forward was fired against Howie. The rebound was fired high and wide in the same fashion that the visitors has been doing all night.

Reading had won their first corner midway through the second half. But in the last ten minutes we won another four and easily doubled or even tripled our number of shots. 80 minutes of shite from Reading followed by 10 minutes when we could have easily won it after at last putting a bit of effort in. After the substitutions Reading reverted to a 4-3-3 formation with McIntyre drifting on the left, Williams on the right, and Scott in the middle. It looked like it wouldn't pay off, but almost did about 8 minutes from the end when McIntyre crossed from far out on the left into the path of Scott. Scott really should have simply side-footed into the net but blasted it wide in the side-netting. Minutes later Scott was given another great chance with a cross from the left - but his header well inside the area, was tipped over the bar. Martin Williams, who after some bright moments started to look rather too lazy, almost grabbed the winner right on time. He actually ran into some space through the middle of the defence and Brebner played the perfect ball. Williams shot found the keeper getting down quickly to make the save. Full time and Reading were booed off the pitch by a large section of the 4,000 home fans.

The programme notes from Burns tonight were interesting. Referring to Saturday's win against Bristol City: "we passed the ball very well... it makes sense to play the game at pace". Two things entirely missing tonight. If only the away side's finishing had been up to scratch they'd have had it sown up with ease well before those last 10 minutes. Saturday must see a big improvement.

Graham