This was an absolutely superb day out at the Mad House. Newcastle may not have put out a full first team (no Shearer, no Fergurson), but it made no difference. The most amazing weather ever and a huge amount of fans starved of football through the summer made it quite an occassion - but a relaxing one unlike those crucial league games to come. There were two amazing things to report - firstly some half decent football from Reading that saw them take an early two goal lead, and secondly an almost ridiculous attendance of almost seventeen thousand people. 17,000. For a pre-season friendly. Surely some kind of record attendance for what really was just a kick about. Newcastle United certainly aren't far behind on the Man United syndrome. The place was filled with local Newcastle fans who sneaked in every stand in numbers, as well as almost totally filling the away end. Strangely I didn't hear a Geordie accent all afternoon. Frighteningly it could be the highest crowd of the season unless we're challenging for promotion or go on some blinding cup run.

With a few months of no Reading Football Club activity it was almost nice to see the club back to its old ways. The predictable 15 minutes kick-off delay, the queues of up to 40 minutes to get a pre-match beer in the concourse (4 people behind a whole area when there's room for way over double...), all the away fans following the signs to park up only to be told it permit holders only. But that's all good news - the stadium is perhaps a victim of it's success, so that's cool. And John Madejski knows it only too well. He may have one of the best grounds in the country, but he still can't do his on-pitch talk to the crowd because we haven't got a working microphone (despite an attempt 45 minutes later at half time, after the pre-match bit went pear shaped). A major plus point was the swipe card season tickets being very successful - although even here a fair percentage had problems.

Newcastle were a mixture of first team players and youngsters, while Reading fielded an almost first choice eleven. Missing for Reading was a large percentage of the Tommy Burns signings. After the signing of Forster Reading's odds of winning the league were cut from 16-1 to 8-1. But the hugely anticipated centre-forward was out injured. Evers and Murty, two of Burns most promising signings were also sidelined. Half the starting line-up could have been the starting line up from the days of Terry the Taxi - with Hunter, Parkinson, Caskey, Hodges, and Williams all featuring as key players. It was these players who probably looked the best too.

It may have been dubbed the fans opening of the stadium, but without something to watch during the game it would have all fallen a little flat. Thankfully Reading provided 45 minutes of entertainment during the first half, while Newcastle provided the entertainment for the second 45 minutes.

Reading took the lead within the first ten minutes. It all came from Phil Parkinson carrying on from exactly where he left off last season. 100% determined. This may have been a friendly but Parky didn't care, and went flying in for a near suicidle challenge not far outside the Newcastle area. Parky went flying, and after spending a bit of time on the ground recovering, got up to let Caskey take the resulting free kick in a central position. Caskey stepped up a the ball curved over the wall and deep into the left side of the net to give Reading the lead. A blinding free kick. A clear sign to Tommy Burns that Parkinson and Caskey are once again going to be two key players for the season.

Where we struggled last season was up front. Tommy should look carefully at this game and see that Martin Williams is the man to partner Forster up front when the season kicks off. Keith Scott did well to be big and awkward in the Newcastle box, and did cause problems for the premiership defence, but still didn't look a patch on Martin Williams, despite getting a half-decent header on target. Williams is going to have to work hard to get a starting place but helped himself today. All it took was one moment. The ball was played forward down the right wing and looked to be well under control by the United full back. However Williams anticipated the mistake perfectly, robbed him of the ball, strode into the area and calmly fired the ball low past the keeper into the left side of the net. 2-0 to Reading within 20 minutes, and we were looking good for it too.

Williams seemed to quickly tire as the first half wore on, losing his pace and effort quite quickly. Perhaps he's not fully fit, but it's hardly a suprise considering the heat out there. However this didn't affect Hodges, Parky, or Caskey, who all had excellent games full of determination. Caskey could have made it 3-0 not long after Williams strike. He saw the keeper of his line and tried a long distance lob that was just over the bar. Hodges was working well, playing the ball around nicely and winning a fair amount of tackles. Of course nothing compared to the number of tackles Parky was winning - but that's an unfair comparision.

At the back we looked solid as anything with Newcastle rarely threatening. Hunter and Polston look to be working well together, were winning the majority of balls without any problem, and always looked in control. Gray was also having a decent game and looked good again down the wing. Brebner seemed pretty anonymous until he got a shot of target but that seemed to be it. Gurney looked rather pathetic compared to Gray. If this was Gurney's chance to prove something he may have wasted it, although he saved a certain goal by clearing off the line from point blank just before half time.

They'd been moments in the first half when Reading were almost taking the piss out of an uninspiring Newcastle side by stroking the ball all over the place - with Caskey and Hodges two of the most involved. However that swapped around after half time when Newcastle got back on track. Reading looked effective and confortable with their first half line up and formation, but after half time lost all shape with all the substitutions throughout the half with the formation changing every few minutes. Lets hope we stick to four at the back when the season kicks off - Casper once again didn't have a convincing game after coming on and being asked to play with two other central defenders. Also in defence Lockwood came on and despite trying very hard looked a little out of his depth and was beaten almost every time.

The introduction of Guillet for Newcastle gave their fans something to get excited about, and that seemed to rub off on the team as they stepped up a gear and entirely locked Reading out. The best chance of the second half fell to Jimmy McIntrye, a second half introduction, who did everything but score with his opportunity. Andy Bernal, who came on as a right back and then a right midfielder did well to get down the wing and put in a decent cross. McIntyre turned his man well inside the box and put the ball on his right foot to leave himself with just the keeper to beat. Instead of driving it home he spooned it wide and high. A terrible miss, and unfortunately for McIntyre the only real time that he was noticable in an otherwise uneventual spell up front. It was probably also the high point for Bernal. Skippy is one of those players who wont feature this season and made a couple of poor mistakes at the back similar to last season - heading the ball from wide back into your own box with the opposition pushing forward is not a good idea!

Hunter's mistake was also a major sin, but I got the impression he might have thought more carefully in a competitive fixture. After the man beat him just inside the corner of the area, Hunter hooked his legs from under him to conceede the penalty. The penalty was fired to Nicky Hammonds right and into the back of the net. 2-1.

Scott Howie didn't really get so much to do - so it's hard to compare - but Hammond didn't do a bad job despite letting the two goals in. The first was a penalty, the second a wonder goal, and inbetween he made an excellent clean catch and a couple of decent stops. Perhaps he could have caught a few more, but it looked like he knew he had the time.

The Newcastle fans would have gone home happy after seeing a fantastic individual goal to make it 2-2 with just more than 10 minutes left. He twisted in and out of four or five players down the right before cutting in the box and firing past Hammond.

So a decent afternoon's entertainment and some promising signs from Reading. We're missing a right back - but Murty can step into that role when he's fit. And we already have a super-striker, in the shape of Forster, that we're yet to see. We have the players, we have the optimism. We need Burns to make it all work starting from August 7th.

Graham