Match Report - Away VS Grimsby

Division One
17 February 1996

GRIMSBY 0 READING 0
Match report from Mike Crone:

Had a good day out a Grimsby on Saturday. Not a bad result really. We could have nicked it near the end. Hard to see how they beat West Ham the other night. Chelsea should sort them out no bother.

Started off with some top-notch fish'n'chips and a swift bevvy in a local pub. Met some of the Yorkshire branch lads in the pub. As expected not many Royals fans had made the trek. Good support throughout the game though. Grimsby fans made little noise save the odd half-hearted 'mar-iners, mar-iners, mar-iners...'.

They had more of the game in the first half but we never looked in any real trouble (unlike last week when Millwall missed loads of chances). In the second half we came more and more into the game, but as usual the final ball let us down. With about fifteen minutes left Quinny (on the bench for a change) took off Morley (good move, he's a pile of useless shite) and brought on Michael Meeker (who apparently hasn't done much since his move from QPR last summer).

The Meekon played a stormer, tormenting the Grimbo defence with his direct running. He whistled one shot past the angle and put some good low crosses in. One of these found Lee Nogan about 8 yards out. In the act of shooting he was clearly hauled back by a defender and as a result he only just managed to get a touch on his shot. He would definitely have scored if he hadn't been pulled but the f***ing fat bastard ref was having none of it. We forced a few late corners but it wasn't to be.

So another away point well earned but a few wins are needed. Five off the bottom with some important home games coming up. I think we've got six home games in the next nine. This is a crucial period, four wins would see us on the way to safety. If Skippy and Parky return and Morley stays out of the team I'm fairly optimistic now.

Good solid return for Hopkins. Wdowczyk filled in usefully at left-back but his corner taking was abysmal. Geordie was my man-of-the-match (again) for his tireless running and creative guile. Nogs and Archie looked better when Morley (not my fave) went off. Brilliant stuff from the Meekon, hope he can keep it up. Good to see no Gilkes in the team. Solid performance from the quietly effective Booty.

Also: Bobby 'ooh-my-leg' Mihailov actually played!!! He didn't do bad either. About time he started to earn his wages!