Reading's third straight defeat was settled in the opening five minutes, after a disasterous start saw the Royals conceed the only two goals of the game. There was instantly no way back for the Royals against an away side that had done their job and would have no problem at all keeping hold of their lead. Reading, experimenting with some strange tactics, were as disorganised as they could be after the two goals and had only just started to recover when John Mackie was dismissed for a second yellow card. The second half saw Reading have most of the play but Norwich had no problem containing us. The game could have gone all night and Norwich would have continued to defend an ineffective Reading attack with ease. Again, there could be no faulting effort tonight, as Reading continued to try and work their way into the game. Norwich were a far better side than Reading, but Reading's biggest problems on the night were unusual, confusing team selections and tactics, coupled with the problems of a less skillful side than the opposition.

Yet it all started brightly for the Royals with a starting eleven that was massively different from Saturday's defeat against Milton Keynes at the Madejski Stadium. There was no place for Butler or Shorey in either the line-up or on the bench. Interestingly, Whitehead was missing off the bench with Australian goal-keeper Young taking his place. Elsewhere Rougier was given a start up front alongside Cureton. The mysterious disappearance of Nicky Shorey, who has been superb all season, meant an inclusion for Arsenal loan player Matthew Upson as Reading played three centre backs and two wings backs in the shape of Murty and Salako. The 3-5-2 formation was a very brave move from Alan Pardew, who is sure to take some abuse for the experiment in such a difficult high-profile league fixture. It did look good from the off - but only for the first two minutes. Rougier instantly started causing problems as he started off a determined performance up front for the Royals. Cureton provided a cross that Rougier headed over in the middle, and Rougier almost created a few chances as he forced his way through. With a nice bit of attacking play and the options given down the wings we had reasons to think that Pardew's drastic changes might pay off against a strong Norwich side.

However the early indications were a false hope, and it all very quickly fell to pieces as soon as Norwich launched their own attacks. Norwich broke with ease down the right wing with Salako clearly not likely to be able to make a challenge. In the middle we had three defenders not used to playing with each other and clearly not sure of their positions. The ball was crossed and Mackie made the mistake that led to the goal. He put his foot over the ball and missed it, and it drifted across into the middle for a straight forward tap in from close range to put Norwich 0-1 up. Reading had barely started again when another attack came down the other side. Mackie was drawn away from the attacker for some strange reason, leaving him free in the middle when the ball was crossed from the left. Norwich took full advantage of the chaos in a confused three man defence and the spare man had time to drive the ball into the right side of the net to make it 0-2.

So, Reading were two goals down after just five minutes - and uncomfortable just wasn't the word. Immediately we had to question why the hell Shorey had been left out of the side in place of Matthew Upson. The changes unsettled the whole team who looked unsure as to what their tactics actually were. Upson failed to impress throughout - he didn't work with the side and was guilty of a couple of slack balls that could have let the visitors in again during the second half. Murty playing wide and forward was a nice idea in theory and he did well to continually find space on the wing and wait patiently for the ball. However, the balls never came as we totally failed to use our options up front. We'd broken the defence by the changes but then failed to then make up for it by using the extra options up front. The midfield was non-existant and we were left to rely on a battling Tony Rougier to create the odd spark of excitement up front - and relying on a player that doesn't score goals really wasn't ever going to be enough. Rougier had a header just wide at the far post and did well to break through but fired a shot well wide when he should have crossed to Andy Hughes clear in the box. They were rare Reading chances.

The game was over already, but it was entirely over with five minutes of the half left to play, when John Mackie was sent off for his second yellow card. Mackie only had himself to blame with a poor challenge when he was already on a yellow. We were struggling with eleven men, and with ten it just couldn't get any easier for Norwich. The two goals and the sending off were hard to argue with . That meant you couldn't blame the referee, which was lucky, because he was truly shit tonight. The referee certainly wasn't helped by the linesmen either but his contribution meant sure the game was never likely to spring into life with far too many bookings, some strange off-side decisions and play being stopped every two minutes. It really didn't help. Reading's biggest complaint would have been when Rougier was clearly clipped inside the Norwich area during the second half by one of the three players on him. A definate penalty - which wasn't given - but it wouldn't have made much of a difference. It certainly wasn't all against Reading though with Norwich picking up a booking when Murty ran into one of their players.

The second half saw Norwich defend in numbers against a constant, but generally weak, Reading attack. Reading rarely had anyone in the box and Norwich defended with five players throughout the half. There was never going to be any way through. Rougier started running into continual dead ends as his game become more and more ineffective, and Cureton hardly got a touch of the ball. Nicky Forster came off the bench and I'm not sure if he actually did touch the ball. Tyson on the other hand did himself some favours with some nippy periods of play down the wing, but we failed to really gel as a team at any point. If Norwich had bothered to step up a gear they could have always added another couple of goals. This was shown right at the end when they waltzed through a couple of times and should have scored but put the ball over once, and wide another time when they really should have increased their lead.

Reading scored bonus points during the second half by never stopping playing. There was plenty of effort on show, but not always the skill to match. The effort was enough to make sure that the Royals were applauded off the pitch at the final whistle by the majority of the remaining home fans. We understood that the tactics and balance of the side had lost this game. Plenty of questions to be asked. This was an easy win for the visitors.
Graham

Following report from John Wells
Norwich took full advantage of some appalling defending by the Royals to effectively win the game in the first five minutes of what was clearly going to be a tough fixture anyway. There was a lack of discipline and concentration in the defending which was also evident on Saturday against Wimbledon. The new formation will obviously be questioned, but when several players are left unmarked around the penalty area it doesn't matter what formation you play.

For a while Reading looked as if they might be completely overwhelmed but to their credit they rallied and at least got back into the game. They didn't really look like breaking down a determined and solid City defence but there was still hope that a goal might bring them back into contention. Then Mackie lost his head and got himself sent off. Apart from virtually killing the game it also brings in to question his credentials as skipper of the side. There is no doubting his commitment, strength and determination, but a player on a yellow card lunging into the back of a forward moving away from the danger area is one who needs to be provided with leadership rather than being the one expected to provide it. He was also made to look a bit naive by McVeigh's movement off the ball.

Norwich are clearly going to be one of the likely promotion candidate again this season and it is encouraging to see that Reading were not totally outplayed by a top team - even with ten men. You could argue that they were not really bothered about extending their lead but I don't think they would have been quite so secure if Reading had sneaked a goal. Tonight's performance apart from the appalling errors early in the game was not bad, but Norwich were clearly a better team. The team is crying out for a player to compliment Cureton. He can't be expected to be the sole provider of goals and yet nobody else looks like scoring. Rougier possesses great skill and ball control and his strength caused Norwich a few problems, but Reading's three best chances fell to him tonight and he either scuffed his shot, hesitated and lost possession, or headed wide.

Although it did not effect the result, the referee had a stinker. The foul on Rougier in the second half was a clear penalty, he made some ridiculous decisions and was inconsistent in the punishment he dished out. For example Reading had two players booked for hand ball but when a Norwich player committed the same offence no card was shown.

Murty was back to his best tonight trying to build attacks down the right with positive and direct running and passing. Watson had a better game defensively and hit a couple of superb long passes. Upson also looked stronger as the game progressed, which is just as well with Mackie about to be suspended. There is scope for development and improvement in the squad and this season will be the real test of Alan Pardew's management skills. I think he is doing as well as he can with what he has available but there is still a lot of work to be done.
John Wells