Shocking again, particular highlights were Hectors sitter miss and John and Williams utter ineptitude. Brighton had a lot of wayward passes but we only looked to capatalise on that once or twice in the game. 299 Reading fans there, poor, but I can't blame anyone for not turning up to see that. At least there's nothing left to play for.

ill actually take a 1-0 to high flying brighton after crashing out of the cup.
dull and uninspiring, but didn't really expect much more.

john must sort his shooting out, its literally pointless doing all the skills and flicks, and step overs if he then refuses to stick it in the back of the old onion bag.


oh well. we move on

A t least some of you made the effort to attend this relatively near by fixture.

Are you sure you're not Kes's dad?

But things are improving. Aren't they?

Holy Cow.

Very dissapointed with my personal support this season, 1 missed in 2013-14, 1 in 2014-15 and I'll have missed 6 this season

I thought last night was quite similar to the Leicester v Newcastle game on Monday night; we weren't actually that bad, just failed to take/execute chances.

Vydra seemed too hesitant to pull the trigger, eventually when he did the keeper spilled it and you'd want anyone but Mike Hector on the follow up and unfortunately he skied it. On another day that goes in and we could maybe be talking about a hard earned point and how Brighton aren't that special and other threads reading far too deeply into the club's ethic wouldn't be made.

GetReading has Williams as MOTM which is probably fair. Ola John looked useful too in stages. Brighton goal was a sweeping counter attack and well taken to be fair.

re. the support - it's one of the worst situated grounds to get to in the country, parking is impossible, shuttles to the station take forever. And it was 30 quid. And our season is over. And it doesn't take 90 mins to get to Brighton from Reading. Can't wait to see the turnout for Boro away.

The consistent failure to take chances is becoming a serious problem though (Charlton aside). John was okay on the ball but he had a serious issue with his final ball and staying on his feet, and Williams first touch was horrible. Brighton weren't that special but they ploughed on and came out with a win against our distinctly average side who haven't shown up since October in the league.

And on the support, I got home at about 2am thanks to traffic, crap park and ride buses and road closures. 4 hours to get back from Brighton, cannot blame anyone for avoiding that bollocks. Wish I could go Boro, be an experience with the 50-100 other fans there!

Re Will95
Think it's time for some on here to take their head out of their arses if they think there's nothing to play for.
Defeat against Cardiff and a Rotherham win on Saturday would mean just a 5 point gap from the drop zone.
With 10 games still to play I suggest there's a shit load to play for!

Massive LOL @ (apparent) adults who care how many visiting supporters attend a football match Grow up.

The 299 who attended have my utmost respect/sympathy.

As one of the hardy 299 souls who made the trip I didn't think that overall we were as bad as some of the reaction on social media warranted. Yes we are frustrating to watch sometimes and ineffective up front but following on from the Palace disappointment and the fact we have nothing to play for the performance was not totally unexpected against a side challenging for promotion.

Defensively I thought we were okay, keeping Brighton from having too many chances, We were caught by a very quick well executed counter attacking move which reminded me a lot of the Reading 2005/6 approach.

But going forward with any speed or urgency especially away from home to me seems to be exactly what we are missing at the moment. Perhaps it is simply confidence to get forward but we tap the ball backwards and forwards across the defense which is incredibly frustrating and then when we do actually move forward promptly loose the ball with a sloppy pass ( something Brighton did a lot too) or simply run out of ideas and end up passing it back. The inability of midfield and our forwards to communicate is worrying.

Still I remain confident that Brian will, given time, get things right.

And one final point ...the trip back...whoever organised for closure on the M25, M3 and M4 all on the same night needs taking out and shooting

Holy Cow.
That picture was taken from the away end.

Nice try Pepe!

But things are improving. Aren't they?
God youre dull on here.
Real life Kes>>>>>>>Internet Kes


Defo improved.conceding fewer.losing fewer.defence better.

Considering his two best strikers were sold I think the decrease in attacking threat is predictable.

On top of all that all sorts of indirect, Hard to measure things are up.
Things like spirit.mental toughness. Togetherness with fans, having a manager I like, the general soul and feel of the club.

So yes. They have improved. Alot.imo.
Once the badly imbalanced squad is sorted in the summer ill be even happier.

Was very tempted for this before they released the pricing.

£30 for a minimum 2hr trip on a Tuesday night and a half days holiday?

I don't get the love in with John, and following from comments about last night would like to see him dropped to the bench.

Or no time off work, left Basinsgtoke at 5, arrived at the park and ride 6.45, got back at 2, slept until 6.30, in work at 7.40, just got to deal with being tired! It does help it was only £22 for me though... And to be honest I only decided I was going on Monday.

Nice summary there.

On the BBC website:

"Midfielder John also failed to direct a shot on target from six yards out as he was distracted by an onrushing David Stockdale."

How annoying of the goalkeeper to come rushing out of his goal to narrow the angle.

How annoyingly distracting.......................................

Agree - for a different reason. Here's a thought, how about trying to create a better team with a winning mind set now, so we have the team up and running for next season where we could only improve.
No let's all do f... all, scuffing our feet and saying what's the point for the last ten games and then as usual suddenly try and build a worthy team with a week to go before the new season playing the likes of Exeter Town FFS.

Or no time off work, left Basinsgtoke at 5, arrived at the park and ride 6.45, got back at 2, slept until 6.30, in work at 7.40, just got to deal with being tired! It does help it was only £22 for me though... And to be honest I only decided I was going on Monday.

But...why?

What reason would anyone have to go through all that effort/expense to watch what was always going to be a dire and meaningless game of football?

Judging people for having better things to do with their time/money than watch Reading Football Club is a little churlish.

Or no time off work, left Basinsgtoke at 5, arrived at the park and ride 6.45, got back at 2, slept until 6.30, in work at 7.40, just got to deal with being tired! It does help it was only £22 for me though... And to be honest I only decided I was going on Monday.

But...why?

What reason would anyone have to go through all that effort/expense to watch what was always going to be a dire and meaningless game of football?

Judging people for having better things to do with their time/money than watch Reading Football Club is a little churlish.

I wouldn't and wasn't judinging anyone for not being as stupid as I am, I was simply saying that it is easily feasible without a half day off work.

IF you work in Basingstoke AND finish by 5 o'clock. That will narrow it down quite considerably for Reading fans.

I know weren't having a pop at those not attending Will, and I can't get the fascination with attendances in general to be honest, just pointing out that for most Brighton on a Tuesday night will involve a bit more effort.

Anyway, back to the point about the rest of the season, these last 10 games are a great chance for players on the fringes to push their case for next season and we really should be trying to get every last bit of effort and improvement out of the squad for those games. Coppell always used to say the way you finish one season can have a big impact on the way you start the next.

I want to see McDermott get us playing with more gusto for these remaining games. We're effectively playing with little pressure now, or 2-0 football as he likes to call it, so now is the time to start building his way of playing and drilling the squad into the attitudes he wants to see when they come back.

If some of those loanees and players expecting to leave in the summer don't buy into that then let them train on their own and keep that attitude away from the rest of the squad.

Actually if MK Dons or Fulham lose as well as Reading the points gap would be 7 points if Rotherham win.

Lost our last three games of 2004/5

Strong words from the Captain.

Absolutely. Leicester City are the perfect example of that.

Instead of letting Pardew try and get Coppell over to Crystal Palace in some capacity, we should be trying to get Coppell back at Reading in some capacity to work with McDermott, Reid, Hammond etc. Then we can really try and re-establish that Reading way which has brought so much success.

+1 I think some on here are in danger going to sleep as the ship sinks.

Was at the game last night and can only really agree with what has already been said. Thought we were actually ok and thought we would have been deserving of a draw. However, it was so clear that every player in that team especially the midfield and forwards confidence levels are extremely low. So many times we would bring the ball forward, get the ball out to the wings in a promising position and then it is passed back to the full backs then the centre backs and momentum is lost. I think the whole team needs a rebuild and I think it is going to take at least a couple of seasons before we can challenge again. Personally I think Brian is the best man to build a spine to the team as long as the owners invest in permanent signings and let the football people (Brian, Hammond, Howe) make the decisions on signings rather than these foreign guys who we have never heard of and don't even speak English.

Finally, what a poor view from the away end. For £30 it was really hard to make out what was going on down the other end of the ground. Their park and ride system used to be really good but I left as the final whistle and still had to wait 25 mins for the bus. Probably didn't help that the ground was half empty at full time!

Having seen the goal, it's a really piss poor bit of defending from Gunter. Why he thinks he needs to engage McShanes man and leave Wilson free is beyond me. It's those individual errors that are really costing us