We weren't expecting the best afternoon's entertainment from our third game against Walsall in four fixtures - and we got what we expected. Reading's lowest league crowd of the season will have gone home massively disappointed at another average performance from the Royals that our exposed our massive inability to find the back of the net. In the three recent games against the Saddlers the only goal we managed was an own goal in the cup replay - unless one out of the three penalties counts as well. It was our inability up front that let us down today against a Walsall side that clearly came for the point - and went away with it as they planned.

Pardew once again opted to leave Cureton on the bench, but gave Hughes a starting place with Tyson relegated to the subs bench. Hughes looked a little out of place in Tyson's role and Reading were to rely on Murty and Shorey to work the ball forward with Igoe having a quiet first half. Right from kick-off it was clear that Walsall were keen to play time out and take the point and as a result the game instantly took on a slow scrappy pattern with neither side looking that excited about the game. We probably played into their hands by failing to step up the speed of the game until the last part of the second half. The first half flicked between high hoofing and mis-placed passes to slow build up play that failed to trouble either side. At least Reading's defence looked solid throughout with Brown and Mackie containing the Walsall attack and Hahnemann looked back in control overall.

Reading had the best chances of a very quiet first half but failed to take them. Butler looked nervous up front and prefered to be working the ball forward to Forster rather than taking the chances himself. In the air, he once again was always second to the ball behind the defence as Walsall continually cleared with ease. Forster looked lively but didn't have enough chances to break free with Reading losing possession in the final third on a regular basis on the rare occassions they tried to break through. The best chances of the first half came when Butler played an excellent through ball to Nicky Forster. Forster ran onto it and looked favourite to score with just the keeper to beat. It might have taken a slight deflection off of the Walsall keeper to force it onto the base the far post. The rebound came to Butler who sent the ball flying into the air and was over the crossbar, deep into the South Stand - it was typical of another frustrating performance from Butler. Down the other end, Walsall never looked likely to score with the best attempts being two attempts from Junior from outside the area that Hahnemann saved with ease.

Salako replaced Newman at half time and Reading were to have a better second half. Our greatest problem continued to be the pace of the game - too slow to launch any dangerous attacks with Walsall ready for anything with all eleven men behind the ball. The introduction of Cureton at last gave us an injection of pace and ambition that might have earnt us the win. Everyone expected Butler to make way for Cureton and Pardew's decision to replace Forster was met with a chorus of boos around the Madejski Stadium. Forster was one of the few dangerous players on the pitch. Having survived this substitution Butler was to have his best period of the game, linking up well on a few forward moves with Cureton. Butler was eventually reaplaced with Tyson with just eight minutes of the game remaining - and it was our strongest eight minutes of the game up front. Perhaps a combination of Forster and Cureton from the start might have been just what we needed against this Walsall defence. But sadly it wasn't to be.

Cureton's introduction coincided with Igoe bursting into life across the pitch, winning balls and playing some good passes forward to generate a bit of interest. Harper had a decent second half too and almost won the game for Reading after a great move saw him released into the area on the left. The keeper was straight out of his goal however and Harper's shot was straight at the keeper. Andy Hughes should have knocked the ball back into the middle but chose to head the ball wide of the target. Jamie Cureton continued to give Reading options up front by doing his usual job of being in the right place at the right time. A Murty cross from the right saw Cureton hit a close range shot at the keeper and then put the rebound over the top from close range. It was too little too late. Reading finished well on top but they'd spent too much of the game allowing Walsall's time wasting tactics to get the better of them. It was up to Reading to come up with ideas today and they seemed completely without them.
Graham

Following report from John Wells
Tuesday's encounter between the two sides was scrappy and frustrating. Today's match was simply dull. I must admit, I was not eagerly anticipating a thriller, but I at least expected a better performance and a win. We got neither. There were times when I found myself watching the crowd rather than the game!(I spotted two sets of rumble sticks in the East Stand!)

From the kick-off Walsall conceded possession with a sloppy pass and that seemed to set the tone for the game. Reading were quite frankly a shambles in the first half. They lacked width in attack. Everyone seemed to want to play in the congested centre of the field, nobody seemed to want to break forward quickly, and consequently very little was created. Only Harper seemed to want to force the issue in midfield. Butler worked hard up front, but the main threat, as usual, was Forster. I can only recall two chances in the first half. Just after half an hour Butler somehow stumbled through the Walsall defence and found himself with a sight of goal. His attempted finish was feeble and when the ball rebounded to him he frustratingly failed to find anyone with his cross. Shortly afterwards Butler put Forster through who at least struck a decent shot which Walker deflected onto the post. The ball came back off the post to Butler on the edge of the box who made a real hash of a reasonable chance with keeper out of position.

With the back four having little deal with, Pardew felt he didn't need Newman's defensive contribution and replaced him with Salako after the interval, which seemed a good idea at the time. The second half didn't produce much action in front of goal either. Forster was substituted after sixty-two minutes and the change clearly upset the striker who appeared to have a few sharp comments to make to Pardew as he took up his place on the bench. I must admit I thought he should have stayed on with maybe Igoe vacating the spot wide on the right. Cureton seemed eager to seize his opportunity when came on and looked very sharp. He got himself into good positions but when a good chance did arrive from a good ball across the box from Murty, he hit his shot straight at Walker, and then threw himself at the rebound and sending the ball flying high into the crowd. Harper also managed to get into the a scoring position by exchanging passes with Butler on the edge of the box, but it was only a half chance. He was at least looking like he wanted to get forward and score. Butler was eventually replaced by Tyson who played up the middle. By then we really were clutching at straws.

When the board went up showing three minutes of added time Reading suddenly seemed to realise that the game was about to end in a draw and pressed forward with greater urgency. Too little, too late! It was a poor result and to hear the manager talking about how negative Walsall were does not alter the fact that we have just played a struggling side three times and failed to score a goal against them in open play. We are in the middle of a bad run - one win and five goals scored in nine games, including a very tame exit from the Cup. Defensively we still look strong, so we do have the foundations to build on. The addition of Brown is a real asset. He was very assured today and his distribution was of higher quality than any centre back we've had for a while. We are strong enough in midfield although Newman has become a bit sloppy with his passing and although the accuracy of Hughes' passing has improved, the timing of his passing leaves a lot to be desired! The problem of being a bit lightweight up front is not going to be solved within the present squad. We have a real chance of making the play offs but it is going to slip away because we are simply not scoring enough goals. An obvious point but nobody seems to want to do anything about it.