Femi Azeez opened his account for the season with an emphatic finish perfectly timing his run on to a delightful ball in behind the visitors defence from substitute Elliott before lashing the ball past United 'keeper Holy. It was the icing on the cake of this thumping five goal home win which lifted Reading off the bottom of the league.

In spite of chalking up their first away win in over a year at Wycombe four days earlier, with virtually the same team, Reading looked tentative and cautious in possession allowing fellow strugglers Carlisle a lot of possession in the opening quarter of the match. For most of the opening twenty minutes Reading played safe passes deep in their own half before launching hopeful longs balls forward by passing a static midfield. It was not working.

There was a long delay to treat United's Garner and allow him the time to limp across the entire width of the pitch (instead of leaving the pitch at the nearest point) but on twenty six minutes Reading took the lead. Dorsett's persistence allowed him to deliver a harmless-looking cross, which under no pressure, and presumably no call from the Holy, Lavelle deflected the ball past his surprised 'keeper who was on way out to gather the ball.

Reading have often been at their most vulnerable after taking the lead this season and this pattern continued when early substitute Plange got in front the usually reliable Abbey to poke past Button from close range. In my, opinion the young defender had every right to expect Button to be collecting a looping cross dropping in the six yard box. I suspect, as with Reading's opener, lack of communication from the 'keeper may have been a factor. Button's decision making is often good coming off his line, but he not so confident coming for high balls into the box. Anyway, the equaliser triggered a bit more urgency from Reading, and a couple of minutes later Reading restored their lead, Knibbs scrambling the ball over the line after Azeez had put a decent ball in to the near post. Reading were now in the ascendency, extending their lead seven minutes later. After being invisible for twenty minutes Wing was getting on the ball with greater effect. Just outside the box he twisted and turned before sliding a good ball to Knibbs who mesmerised the United defence to make room to slide the ball in inside the post.

United came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. Recent form suggests even a two goal lead is necessarily a platform for victory for the Royals. In the matter of seconds Dorsett cleared off the lone and blocked a powerful goal bound strike. On this occasion Reading kept their concentration and held on to their lead and began to relax, pass, and move with for more cohesion. Fewer touches, crisper passing and more purposeful running off the ball, had United were on the back foot. Azeez, showing how good he can be, got his head up and rolled the ball into the advancing Wing. The quality of the pass allowed Wing, without needing to break stride, to run onto it and hit a shot of awesome power past Holy from outside the box. That sealed the three points. Five minutes later Azeez, having missed several chances this season, was presented with a one on one with the 'keeper in space and with lots of time, which can present a different kind of pressure! Azeez steadied himself before rifling a left-footed low strike past Holy.

Long after the final whistle I watched a delighted Azeez celebrating with supporters by the corner flag. I felt really pleased for him, and for Reading. Azeez has struggled this season with just about every aspect of his game, but he has kept trying, and this this evening he got his reward. No chants of 'we are going up' this evening from the fans, but Reading at least this evening did not look like they were going down!

John Wells