Reading’s dismal run of away form continued today with yet another defeat, this time at the hands of Notts County who secured all the points with a very late winner. A patchy performance from the Royals saw them recover to 2-2 having gifted County a two goal lead. Yet a lack of concentration towards the end gave County the winner that on reflection they probably deserved.

Reading’s management yet again chose to experiment with the team selection and tactics used away from Madejski Stadium. We seem to see a different Reading side very time we go away, and judging by today’s first half performance the experiments are getting us nowhere. Today, Pardew opted to start with Tony Rougier in place of Sammy Igoe. To accommodate the left sided Rougier, the formation was changed to what can generally be seen as 4-3-3, with Rougier playing up front along with Cureton and Butler. However, it soon became apparent that we were in effect playing 4-5-1, since neither Cureton or Rougier were anywhere to be seen near the County goal.

Martin Butler tried hard as ever, but in this strange looking formation Reading were all over the place and failed to have any impact on the game. The forwards failed to link up at all in the first half, and our only efforts on goal came from long range shots by Lee Hodges and Jamie Cureton which forced saves out of the County keeper.

The game could have had a very dramatic start, as within the first five minutes Ricky Newman appeared to handle the ball inside the Reading penalty area. Penalties have been given for much less obvious offences this season, but luckily for the Royals the ref chose to ignore this one.

Despite that decision, Notts County were clearly the better side in the first half and they took the lead after half an hour through a fine individual goal. County have struggled to find a partner for Mark Stallard this season, but today on-loan Danny Allsopp outshone County’s leading scorer with a superb performance. The goal came after Reading had lost possession in midfield, and Allsopp was able to outpace the Reading defence and neatly put the ball past Whitehead.

It got worse ten minutes later, as a rash tackle from John Mackie gifted County a second goal. Mackie mistimed his tackle and the penalty decision was an easy one for the referee to make. Stallard scored the penalty to get his 14th goal of the season.

Things were going badly for Reading, but they managed to pull themselves back into the game on the stroke of half-time. A corner from the right came across, and Adi Viveash’s header was deflected into the net by County defender Ian Richardson. Bizarrely, it was Richardson who had scored an own goal at Madejski two seasons ago to give us a 1-0 win on that day!

At 2-1, things were not looking quite as bad at half-time as they might have been. The teams emerged with Reading looking keen to get the equaliser, and the travelling Royals fans optimistic we could still take something from the match.

Darren Caskey came on at half-time as Reading reverted to a more familiar 4-4-2. Jamie Cureton was taken off yet again, with Rougier pushing forward to support Butler. This seemed to make a great difference to the side, and for a twenty minute spell Rougier and Caskey dominated the game.

Caskey was looking dangerous with a number of superb crosses from the right that somehow failed to create a goal. County defended very well in the second half, and somehow there was always someone there to deflect Caskey’s crosses just past the waiting Butler and Rougier. On the left, Rougier was causing havoc with his strength and trickery. Already the crowd’s favourite, Rougier seemed to stroll past his two markers on a number of occasions. However, each time he seemed unwilling to shoot, and his final ball let him down.

What seemed the inevitable finally happened as a Rougier cross at last found its target. Phil Parkinson was waiting to score his second goal of the season, his header deflecting off the inside of the post. With the scores level again, Reading had the upper hand and should have pushed on for the winner.

However, something seemed to change at that point and for the rest of game it was County who dominated. The Reading players seemed to settle for a point, and foolishly this gave County the chance they needed. A series of corners towards the end exploited a lack of concentration in the Reading defence, and Allsopp was on hand again to get his second of the game and County’s winner.

It was only County’s third home win of the season, and the more worrying figure is that it was our sixth away defeat. There is something seriously wrong with our team whenever we travel away, and this must surely be attributed to naïve tactics combined with a lack of any confidence. The players are good enough – we have seen that from the home performances; but they don’t seem to be able to recapture that form away from the Madejski. The Christmas period could make or break our season, with three games that we really should win. Luton, Bristol Rovers and Swindon are all struggling near the foot of the table, and nine points are needed from these games to get us back in contention for the top two places.

Report by Neil Cole

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