The Royals set all kinds of new records tonight with an impressive 3-0 victory at Watford. The win, which secured a third or fourth placed finish to the league campaign saw Reading match their previous best number of Division One points with one game still to spare. The victory guaranteed a home second leg for the play-off semi-final, which will now be played against either Wolves or Nottingham Forest as the Royals look to win promotion to the Premiership for the first time in the club's history. Reading's Peter Castle set a new club record for the youngest ever player to play for the first team, at the age of 16 years and 49 days, as he came off the bench with eleven mintues to play. The game also saw the debut for Darren Cambell, who, along with Castle, had an impressive short spell on the pitch. This victory, Reading's fourth from five fixtures saw Reading claim the highest number of away wins in the entire Division as they continued a superb run of forms to lead into the play-offs.

It was an all round very satisfying night and an unexpectedly comfortable win as Pardew selected a series of fringe squad players in a vastly changed starting line-up. Forster, Williams, Chadwick, Harper, Little and Murty were all missing from the line-up, rested ahead of the upcoming play-off fixtures. In their place Pardew picked a series of regular players that players that have played this season without winning extended runs in the squad. On the bench appeared academy players Castle and Cambell ready to make their Reading debuts. In defence Adrian Viveash made a return alongside Brown and Newman took right back with Shorey in his regular position. In midfield there were recalls for Watson, Sidwell, Tyson and Rougier with only Hughes keeping his place. Up front Henderson was the lone man with Forster left out for this game. Despite the drastic changes across the team, Pardew stuck to his usual formation and tactics and the whole team looked suprisingly comfortable with it. Sidwell was excellent in midfield and the Brown and Viveash combination looked secure in defence.

The first half failed to see a massive number of chances but Reading had the most of the half. The home side seemed like that hadn't played together themselves with a number of poor passes and an inability to give Hahnemann in the Reading goal anything to do at all with the Reading defence coping with ease. The sign next to the home stand read "Be loud. Be proud" - but the home supporters were ignoring that as their side gave them little to get excited about. On the other hand, after the silence of Portsmouth and Grimby, the Reading fans at last found their voices to celebrate Reading's play-off finish to the season and the impending victory over a generally poor Watford side. Reading's passing seemed of a higher quality and we continued to look the more positive side despite failing to create any serious openings within the opening twenty minutes. Watford had the first shot of the game but then faded quickly with Reading taking control. Ricky Newman went in the book early on as Reading showed their determination with a side of players all determined to make their mark.

Reading gradually gained the upper hand with a few crosses before they took the lead just before the half hour mark. A cross from the left saw Rougier in the right place at the right time to get his head on the ball and guide it past the keeper and into the back of the net. A rare Rougier goal - and the start of the celebrations. Reading had a couple of chances to extend the lead with Tyson forcing a save and Hughes putting one well over the Watford crossbar. The second half saw Watford come out with more purpose and have a good spell of play where they threatened to get back into the game. Hahnemann was called into his first real action of the match and made a couple of saves and the home side won a free-kick right on the edge of the box which might have caused some trouble if it had cleared the wall. After Watford briefly threatened Reading got Cureton in on the action as he replaced Rougier who seemed to be worn out and failing to make any further contribution after his goal.

Cureton's introduction gave Reading something extra up front after Henderson had been struggling a bit by himself. Not long after his entry Cureton did well to run onto a ball and put a superb cross in from the right. It looked like Cureton might have had a shot himself but the pass was perfect to Henderson who had shown a good burst of pace to dash into the area on the left. Henderson's finish was excellent with the ball flying across at speed as he connected to send the ball into the right side of the net giving the keeper no chance. It was an excellent goal that sent the Reading fans into full voice. The game was clearly over for Watford at this point and Reading threatened to extend their lead with balls played through for Cureton. Cureton was disappointingly caught offside on too many occasions - but at least once the decision seemed unfair when he would have otherwise been clean through to score.

With the game won it gave Pardew the chance to bring on Campbell and Castle with the three points already secured. However, both players looked impressive and there was no need to worry as they seemed to slot into the team without any problem. It was hard to believe that Castle had only just turned 16 - he's a big player with a lot of presence and got stuck right in with some an excellent first chance to pass the ball out of defence. He put in a good few tackles and passed well making just the one mistake. Campbell was initially overshadowed by Castle's record breaking appearance and size, but he looked an excellent prospect. He found plenty of space on the right wing and looked very fast indeed beating his man on a couple of occassions. It must have been an excellent moment for him as he was there to join in the celebrations for Reading's third when Henderson and Cureton linked up yet again. Henderson headed down for Cureton to blast it home from the right on the edge of the box into the right corner of the net. An excellent finish deep in injury time to complete a great win. Reading looked good tonight considering the changes made and it showed what strength we have across the squad as nearly every player impressed. A great night out in Watford.
Graham