26 August 1998  Reading
2 Peterborough Utd 0(Reading Win 3-1 on Aggregate & Draw Barnsley in round two) |
|
Howie, Booty, Primus, Parkinson, Gray, Houghton, Brebner, Caskey,
Sarr (Asaba), Fleck (Williams), Reilly.
Mass Sarr (and why not?)
GOAL 1: Caskey Penalty
GOAL 2: Brebner
All samples are Real Audio format - you'll need Real Player. Thanks to Ben at CG.
WHAT A F**KING SHAMBLES! Before the game can even be mentioned, the question has to be asked - who came up with the ridiculous ticketing system that is now in place at the Madejski Stadium? Total disorganisation, and surely not clearly thought through. You would have thought that for a midweek Worthington Cup first round game against third division opposition, the ticket offices would be able to cope. You would have thought that by pre-booking your ticket and turning up a full half hour before kick-off you'd walk straight into the ground without problem. Like bollocks. And as a complete stab-in-the-dark there couldn't have been any more than10,000 in the ground. At Elm Park it would have taken two minutes to get in the ground after arrival. Tonight at the Madejski Stadium it took a full hour.
So lets have a think. Tickets are offered at 12 quid if you phone up and pre-book to collect the tickets on the night. Tickets are 14 quid if you just pay on the night (allegedly). So what do you do? Yes, you pre-book with the rest of the home fans your ticket in the by-far-the-most-popular East stand. And what do the club do? They have one f**king window for all pre-booked East stand tickets - AND tickets are all behind the counter in bloody envelopes. Some system that is. The result is a couple of thousand people queued up outside the stand with 5 minutes to kick-off. Having the kick-off delayed 15 minutes for such a game must be some kind of record. Despite all the "no cash on the turnstiles" bollocks the club have been spouting out they suddenly announce that people can pay cash at the gate. And if that wasn't bad enough I get in the ground only to be told that people that PAID ON THE DAY only paid 12 quid per ticket!! I paid a bloody credit card booking fee too! So for my trouble of pre-booking I get the privilage of waiting an hour, missing 10 minutes of the game, and paying more than if I'd paid on the day. Perfect sense.
Thank God for season tickets for league matches. Although I know for all-ticket games they'd have sold my seat twice.
Anyway. The game. Reading started the game with three changes: Howie replaced Van der "punch that cross" Kwaak, Parkie replaced the injured Kromheer in the centre of defence, and Fleck replaced the injured McIntyre up front. And not really much to report. In a rather dull game Reading swept Peterborough aside, to draw Barnsley in the next round, without really working up a sweat.
Reading created most of the chances early on (opening ten minutes obviously excluded) but without long periods of pressure. Parkie came closest to giving Reading the lead meeting a cross with a powerful header just inside the box. The Peterborough keeper did well to push it over the bar. Reading probably should have won a penalty midway through the half when Gray burst into the area on the left wing only to be taken out by a sliding 'Boro defender. That one wasn't given but Sarr made up for it shortly after by going down in the area in roughly the same place. It was pretty marginal and dodgy refeering if you're a Peterborough supporter. Caskey stepped up and fired the ball mid-height into the back of the net. 1-0 to the Royals and 2-1 on aggregate.
Peterborough enjoyed their best spell of the game just before half time. Howie dropped on in the area which anyone could have tucked away, and moments before had to push one over the bar. However as the second half got underway they seemed resigned to an early cup exit as they failed to muster up any real chances. Reading seemed to remain cautious - quite happy to play the game out. We tried some possession stuff by passes that went nowhere nice and gentle along the floor. Eventually anything slightly inventive disturbingly lost us possession. Not that it mattered as Peterborough failed to break through a sturdy Reading defence. Booty, Gray, Parkie, and Primus didn't have any real problems all night, and Primus especially was doing his "wall" thing.
Sarr was nothing short of sensational again. The man oozes excitement. Every time he got the ball the ground was filled with anticipation. In the first half a great ball from Caskey found him on the edge of the area - instead of controlling the ball he tucked it and turned the defender in one. The defender was confused as anything leaving Sarr to bear down on the keeper. In the second half Sarr met a great long ball down the middle by scooping the ball out of the air on his right foot with perfect control. He really should have buried it but fired it wide of the 'Boro left side post. He is going to tuck a few away - but he's going to create hundreds.
It looked like Fleck had made it 2-0 after squirming around with two 'Boro defenders inside the opposition box and eventually firing into the middle of the net. However as Madejski Stadium celebrated the goal was ruled out - presumably for Fleck pushing his way through the defence rather than using Mass-like pure skill. Williams replaced Fleck and almost made it 2-0 with a decent shot to the keepers left but otherwise had another quiet game.
It looked like Reading had settled for 1-0 as the game started to draw towards the end. The most Peterborough could manage for their small but very vocal away support was a very long range low shot that trickled towards Howie and an impressive Quinn power free kick. But it started getting scrapier and scrapier with moves breaking down quickly and some horrendous passing from the Reading midfield. However Reading made it 2-0 a minute before the end. In a near repeat of Saturday's first goal the corner came in from the right, Brebner collected inside the box to fire it in nice and low to round off another decent performance for himself.
Reading 5 Opposition 0 in the Madejski Stadium. It was far from a classic tonight but it was satisfying to see yet another home victory. Let hope we continue to make the opposition fear coming to the Mad House.
Graham
WCup 1-2
9,100