Reading extended their unbeaten run to ten games with a draw in a scrappy, and at times chaotic, match. Reading dominated possession over the ninety minutes but created few chances. Both sides squandered good chances in the first half. Borough skipper Carl Piergianni scored a goal at either end in the space of eleven minutes early in the second half before the quality of the football, which was not that good at any stage, rapidly declined further.

After eight minutes of stoppage time, mainly added for a change of referee when Lee Swabey left the field of play presumably due to an injury, everyone was probably relieved their team had not lost. The were numerous stoppages throughout the game mainly due to Stevenage players sitting down, sometimes with a genuine injury. On one occasion Borough 'keeper Cooper sat down in order to reduce the time his team were temporarily down to ten. It was a disappointing performance overall from Reading following their triumph over high flying Wrexham earlier in the week. There were flashes of the flowing football we saw on Tuesday but the final pass or the finish just wasn't there. Wareham held the ball up and rolled it into the path of Lewis, but by his standards it was poor strike with a clear sight of goal. Campbell should have finished off another fine move, but although he tested Cooper in the Borough goal with a near-post strike, it was an opportunity which required a more effective shot across the face of the goal inside the far post.

At the other end Kemp missed a sitter from close range from a Roberts cross. It needed a decent save form Pereira to keep it out, but the Borough striker will undoubtedly be disappointed with his strike.

Reading made a bright start when Piergianni, under pressure from Bindon deflected a corner past his own 'keeper to put Reading ahead. From that point on, Reading fell apart making numerous unforced errors inviting pressure on themselves. Piergianni redeemed himself with an equaliser from a tame looking looping header which crept inside the post. Then chaos ensued with a rash of substitutions which made the game look even more disjointed including a change of referee.

The Mr Swabey was becoming increasing ineffective and in consistent before he retreated to the sanctuary of the changing room. His assistant wasn't much better, and when a good move ended with the ball at Ehibhatiomhan's feet he was bundled over with a 'challenge' from behind which now appears to be within the laws of the game!

Reading are still in touching distance of the play-offs and they are certainly capable of playing far better than they did today. Stevenage are part of the pack of mid table teams who are not good enough to go up but not bad enough to go down. Reading can't afford to keep dropping points at home to teams like Stevenage if they want to be in the mix at the end of the season.

John Wells