19 December 1998  Reading
1 Oldham 1 |
|
Howie,
Crawford, Clement, Kromheer, Casper, Brebner, Parkinson, Caskey, McIntyre, Sarr(Brayson),
Glasgow(Wright).
Parkinson
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GOAL 1: McIntyre
GOAL 2: Oldham make it 1-1
Reading wasted an easy opportunity for three home points in some style today after entirely dominating the first half. Unfortunately it was a similar story once again. Reading actually played some decent enough football, passing it around nicely, slowly building to come forward. Great. That was fine for the first half after it had put us a goal up - but simply not good enough for the second half once Oldham had pulled one back. Reading wasted their possession and control of this match - our lack of urgency and ability to create chances from our control, our lack of a real foward man, and lack of pace meant two points were thrown away against on Oldham team that we should have put three or four past. It's disgraceful to only get a draw from a game like this. We proved today that we have almost got what it takes to be one of the best teams in this division - but at the same time showed off our massive weaknesses that continue to hold us back. Frustrating is not a strong enough word - yet again I find myself thinking that it was "typical Reading" today.
The brightest point of the day came before kick-off when it became clear that Grant Brebner, the club's second highest scorer, was going to make his return from injury. We've missed him - and despite a shaky first ten minutes he showed exactly why we need him in the team week in, week out. Meanwhile Williams still continues to recover from his operation on his knee - and so McIntyre got another chance up front in the starting line up. Mass and Byron were prefered in the starting eleven to loanee Wright.
Right from the off it seemed like there was only going to be one team in it. The Tommy Burns pattern of football was more than evident. Reading were playing it all around the pitch on the floor in the usual manner - and with a high level of success. By half time we must have had at least 90 percent of the possession and all the shots on goal.
Brebner continued to be provider - setting up no less than three great chances that could have seen Reading three goals to the good with a bit more luck. The first he played off from the centre to McIntyre on the left. McIntyre crossed parallel into the box and found Sarr - who had a rare lapse in control and failed to connect properly with the pass. If he had connected it would have no doubt flown into the back of the net. Shortly after, Brebner played a similar ball to the impressive Glasgow legging it down the right wing. Glasgow controlled well and turned his defender with a bit of pacey ease before crossing to Caskey. Caskey was racing in at such pace that he couldn't keep his shot down and it flew high over the cross bar. The third attempt almost saw Brebner stick one away. Brebner played another great ball to Glasgow - Glasgow did his stuff in a rather impressive manner and crossed high into the box. By now Brebner was there and connected well. This time the keeper made a great save to push Brebner's header wide.
Sarr's control was confusing the hell out of the Oldham full back who was having a nightmare afternoon. A couple of times he was forced to bring Sarr down, other times Sarr just went straight by him to cross or shoot. Sarr forced the keeper into another great save after he picked the ball up on the left with one touch from a long Caskey diagonal looping pass.
Reading did take the lead, at last, from a Caskey corner. Caskey crossed, from the left, to the far post. The ball hit a crowd of players and came back out to the feet of McIntyre no more than five yards out just inside the near post. McIntyre stabbed it home to make it 1-0.
Any chance Oldham had of making any impression at all on the first half were buried about fifty thousand foot under by Parkie in the centre of the pitch. On the few occassion that they looked like they might get going Parkie was there to go flying in with the tackle to get the possession straight back for Reading. Thanks to Parkie and a defence easily in control Howie's involvement in the first half was nothing more than one or two backpasses.
The second half was a slightly different story. The main excitement for the home fans being standing up to annoy the stewards. The stewards quite clearly didn't have a clue and served to do nothing except incite those stood up. Sack the stewards.
Oldhams first shot on target came in the 60th minute - which says a lot - and it was the equaliser as well. Bugger. After gaining in confidence with a reasonable bit of possession and a free kick that had sailed over the bar, the away side did something Reading weren't - they made their control count. Oldham only had a five to ten minute spell when they were on top but it was enough for them to score and earn a valuable away point. Perhaps there's a lesson there for Reading's home performances. The goal came from some on the floor passing that Reading failed to deal with. Eventually the ball was crossed low in from the Oldham left and was stabbed home from close range. 1-1.
Annoyingly enough Oldham could then have taken the lead as they gained a bit of confidence. They put in a couple of long shots - including one low effort that hit the foot of Howies post before going wide. Reading clawed their way back into the match though and played as they had in the first half - however we looked even less likely to score. Glasgow was replaced by Wright (who failed to impress), and Sarr went off as Brayson came on. And all of a sudden the majority of our creativity was lost.
Reading spent the last quarter of the game just playing it out when we should have pressed for the winner. Far too much playing the ball back - far too much patient build up. Eventually Reading just ran out of time much to the displeasure of 9,000 fans.
Arse.
Graham
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