URZ

Recall: Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

2010-01-26T21:17:00.003Z

Carey Davis would like to recall the message, "Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth".

Recall: Piccadilly Circus

2010-01-26T21:17:00.001Z

Carey Davis would like to recall the message, "Piccadilly Circus ".

Recall: Cliveden ... no sign of Christine Keeler

2010-01-26T21:16:00.002Z

Carey Davis would like to recall the message, "Cliveden ... no sign of
Christine Keeler".

Recall: I wanted a convertible really...

2010-01-26T21:16:00.001Z

Carey Davis would like to recall the message, "I wanted a convertible
really...".

Recall: Taking it easy in the New Forest

2010-01-26T21:15:00.001Z

Carey Davis would like to recall the message, "Taking it easy in the New
Forest".

Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

2010-01-26T21:10:00.000Z

Piccadilly Circus

2010-01-26T21:09:00.001Z

Cliveden ... no sign of Christine Keeler

2010-01-26T21:07:00.001Z

I wanted a convertible really...

2010-01-26T21:06:00.001Z

Taking it easy in the New Forest

2010-01-26T21:04:00.001Z

2009-07-31T15:08:00.001Z

Sidwell to Chelsea

2007-07-06T15:32:00.000Z

So Sidwell gets his dream move to Chelsea and will presumably get a few games when Lampard goes to Barcelona and when the African Nations Cup is on

Will Zamora ever get to Reading and link up with Coppell again ? Now that would be good !

Manchester United 1 - 1 Reading

2007-02-22T09:15:00.000Z

The magic of the cup ! Two reserve teams disrespecting the traditions (according to the papers) but putting on a great game

Reading 2 - 1 Preston

2006-02-25T18:25:00.000Z

Saturday 28 February 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

What a good game! Preston were tough. Very much like the side that destroyed West ham at Upton Park last season. Best game I've seen at the Madejski for a while.

But the referee - clearly NEVER played the game! Carlo Nash - the footballers Wives lookalike in his white boots , white gloves and gelled back long hair was awarded free kicks for the most gentle of challenges at corners yet when Claude Davis climbed all over Kevin Doyle in the penalty area the ref waved play on . Worse still - Nash cam running out of his box, clattered into Dave Kitson "Harold Shumacher" style, knocked him clean out and again the ref waved play on - ridiculous.

The first Reading goal consisted of hand ball by Steve Sidwell and the hand ball by a Preston defender - neither of which the referee saw - so it counted. Preston equalised almost immediately from a Callum Davidson free kick. Hanneman probably was at fault for standing in the middle of his goal but then he, like me, no doubt thought it was going in the top right , not bottom left!

Kitson went off, Sidwell went off - no gingas left - but Lita came on and scored just before half timewith a cross shot which went in the far corner, Nash should have had it really but was probaly reluctant to get dirty.

Preston then brought on all the big guns. Nugent & Omerod off - Dichio and some other 6 footer on - but Sonko reigned supreme in the air, and Murty kicked two off the line. 3 points and Sheffield United went down 2-3 at home to QPR - Marvellous!

12 points clear of 2nd placed Sheffield United, 19 points clear of 3rd placed Watford.

Luton 3 - Reading 2

2006-02-17T22:05:00.000Z

Friday, 17 February 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

Another Friday night game, another on Sky Sports 1.

You can tell the Producer at Sky is just desparate for Reading's unbeaten run to come to an end live on Sky (not paranoid am i?) and tonight he finally got lucky!

Kevin Doyle (again) put Reading ahead after 20 seconds and I missed it as I hadn't got to the pub by then. Here we go ....

But no ... Luton looked a lot brighter and sharper and went 2-1 up with well worked goals and then went 3-1 up with a Dean Morgan goal (ex-Reading!) in the second half. Doyle got a second in the 90th minute but overall Luton were better and Reading just looked tired. No Little or Sidwell tonight either.

And so the team at Sky spent all the time after the game interviewing Luton players and officials and went on and on about Luton. Nothing about the 30-odd game unbeaten run.

Lets hope we get back to winning ways at home to Preston next week.

Focus on the positives -

83 points
Goal Difference of 52 - despite letting in 7 goals in the last 3 games
9 points clear of 2nd place (Sheffield United)
19 points clear of 3rd place (Watford)

Sheffield United 1 - 1 Reading

2006-02-14T16:00:00.000Z

Tuesday, 14 February 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

Valentines Day and what better way to spend it than an away trip to Sheffield United - Top v Second. Got there early to soak up the atmosphere (or Stella) and fade into the background of Southern Yorkshire life. "We've got the pub, you bring the grub" was the
slogan and that's why all these Blades were bringing in chip butties, chips & gravy butties, and chips & curry sauce butties !

And so on to the game and here we are in the away end at Bramall Lane, home of "The Blades". Not a great view to be fair but it was a competitive first half - Sheffield had lots of possession but not much to show for it and Akinbyi doesn't get any better ....

Sheffield scored when Bruce Dyer benefited from a rare defensive mix up but Reading - true to recent form - bounced back quickly through Dave Kitson who does have incredibly bright ginger hair.

Much the same in the second half too although Reading were riding their luck. Then, in the 90th minute, Convey burst through and was brought down by Paddy Kenny. Definite pen, Warnock went mad as he normally does, and then Kitson missed ! Normally he bangs it straight down the middle, but not this time, Kenny saved ....... and everyone went home happy, including us, but not until wed gone for a curry in the wonderful Lahore Palace.

Reading 2 - 0 Southampton

2006-02-10T22:00:00.000Z

Friday, 10 February 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

This one's on Sky Sports 1 too!

Sir Clive Woodwards' 15 man Southampton squad travelled to Reading hoping to grab a point but Reading went 2-0 up in the first half through Lita and Doyle and that was it really. Never in doubt!

The dream team of Rupert Low, Sir Clive & George Burley won't do much this year.

Birmingham 2 - 1 Reading Reserves

2006-02-07T22:00:00.000Z

Tuesday, 07 February 2006
FA Cup

Reading on Sky Sports 1 - If Andy Gray says we're a good team we must be ... only he doesn't know this is our reserve side.

Not a bad game,

Scrappy goal from Forsell to put Birminham one-up,
Great goal from Steven Hunt to equalise (after a mistake from Steve Bruce's son Alex - who has a very different looking nose to his father)
Julian Gray scored at the far post after John Halls lost him in the 6 yard box. A poor goal from Reading's perspective.

Never mind ... and the final won't be at Wembley anyway.

Crewe 3 - 4 Reading

2006-02-04T15:29:00.000Z

Didn't go to this one but sounds like a good one for the neutral!

Very unlike Reading to let in 3 goals,
Not so unusual for them to score 4

:-)

Reading 4 - 0 Norwich

2006-01-31T15:16:00.000Z

Tuesday, 31 January 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

Come on Norwich, Lets be 'avin you!

Well I know they've just sold Dean Ashton for the 'Ammers for £7m but Norwich were poor.

Reading were excellent from start to finish, Glenn Little was magnificent (on TalkSport they were joking that Tord Grip had been at the game - Little to replace Beckham?) , Doyle was too much of a handful for the 2 static centre halves, even Murty looked quick and he was up against Darren Huckerby. And poor old Andy Hughes - how did we ever get £500k for him?

Marvelous free kick from Shorey that beat Robert Green all ends up
Sidwell with a diving header frmo a Little cross
Lita with a richocet of his thigh after great work by Doyle
Convey with a 50 yard run after Shorey had scooped the ball beautifully over Andy Hughes over

I wonder what Cilla said to Delia afterwards?

Interbreeding

2006-01-27T17:09:00.000Z

Very strange interbreeding stats about tomorrows game!
Steve Coppellio managed Crystal palace so too did Wally Downes,Steve Bruce and Terry Bullivant and SC, WD and TB also managed at Brentford and worked under each other......Will the game be a tactical truce or will Coppellio's vast footballing brain win the day?

Reading Reserves 1 - 1 Birmingham

2006-01-27T16:33:00.000Z

Saturday 31st January
FA Cup Round 4

Birmingham have been struggling this season but look a lot better now Chris Sutton has joined from Celtic. However - they have a real makeshift defence for tomorrow (I'm writing this bit on Friday) and the pundits (and my mate Christian from Birmingham) think Reading are favorites. What they keep forgetting to say it that it's our "reserve team" that's been playing in all the cups.

A good turn out in the Upper West Bar
What a strange game ... Birmingham at near enough full strength, Reading putting out there reserves. Only Hanneman, Sidwell & Harper from the usual "1st team" played. Bright start from Reading, Shane Long put us 1-0 up with a firm shot into the bottom right hand corner and we looked okay. Jermaine Pennant was lively (last time he was in the area he was banged up for Drink driving after his sat-nav allegedly directed him to Aylesbury instead of Birmingham!) and Chris Sutton always looked a threat and Sonko looked more like Lois Lane than Superman on one occasion but everyone felt pretty confident at half-time and in the early part of the 2nd half.

Steve Bruce then did a "Jose Mourinho" and sent on 3 subs at once - Forsell, Dunn and someone else - the tempo changed a little and Birmingham's play improved, resulting in Dunn grabbing an equaliser. Oh well - more match practice for the reserves!

PS Christian asked me if I was going up to Birmingham top see the replay. I'm not that sad that I go and watch our reserves away games :-)

Crystal Palace 1 - 1 Reading

2006-01-20T17:51:00.000Z

Friday, 20 January 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

Off to the pub tonight to watch this on Sky. I wonder what the coverage will be like? Probably all about Simon Jordan the "charismatic" chairman of Palace and "what a great job" Ian Dowie is doing. (see the Derby game)

Mind you, Steve Coppell was featured on 5 Live's Sportweek with Gary Richardson last Sunday which is a start, though he doesn't give good copy like say Big Sam, or 'Arry.

There is more to talk about here tonight though because Steve Coppell has managed Palace on 4 separate occasions, most successfully when Wright (Ian) and Bright (Mark) were up front and they reached the Cup Final - 1991 I think. We'll see !

More later ....

Back ... not a bad game at all although my administrative arrangements to get to a suitable venue left a little bit to be desired! Andrew Johnson looked lively and Sonko is SUperman looked a little shaky. Marcus Hannemann was brilliant - 3 or 4 top quality saves - and unliucky ( I thought) to give away a penalty. Johnson's quick and whilst he scooped the ball away from Hanneman it was never under control - in fact it went straight out on the volley for a corner - and all he was looking to do was throw himself against the keeper. I've seen them not given ...but sadly not this time.

Reading were brilliant though - only two minutes later a crisp short passing move saw Lita lay the ball off to Harper who crashed it into the net from the edge of the box. Kiraly - who wears those stupid grey tracksuit bottoms like something out of Rocky - got nowhere near it.

Fair result, good away point, and although Sheff Utd & Leeds both won, we'll settle for that.

Reading 3 - 2 West Brom

2006-01-19T15:24:00.000Z

Tuesday, 17 January 2006
FA Cup Replay

I didn't go to this one either - I need to save up for next years grossly inflated Premiership season ticket!

Sounded like a good game though - Reading Reserves v West Brom Reserves - and a Leroy Lita hat-trick sealed it in Extra Time. And the ref booked him for taking his shirt off!

Good news overall for Lita because he hasn't played much recently but with Kitson & Doyle in the goals, & Long making his impressive start to his Reading career, he needs to do something to justify th £1M price tag.

Birmingham next then, and they're in poor form. I can't think when Reading last progressed beyond the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Arsenal 71 was a good game but we got knocked out, and Man Utd during Cantona's era was also a 3rd round knockout. What a season it could be - our first team wins the league and the reserves march off with the cup!

Reading 2 - 0 Coventry

2006-01-19T15:15:00.000Z

Saturday, 14 January 2006
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

I was expecting this to be a difficult one. Coventry under Mickey Adams have become hard to beat and were surely coming to the home of the runaway league leaders for a point. What was likely to make them even more resolute was the homecoming of Adie Williams (club stalwart) who was sadly released during the January window last year. He's still a good player .. but he is slow and was bound to drop off deep .. and so it proved! Coventry played 5 at the back with Richard Shaw (ex-Crystal Palace veteran) and were difficult to break down in the final third. Loads of possession for Reading but no end product really although both Convey and LIttle looked lively ... and Kitson didn't!

And then either side of half time Kitson scores twice (he's now top scorer in the league) and it's all over. Coventry change to 3-4-3 and had a go but Reading were too good. (phrases you never hear!)

Onwards & Upwards - 9 point clear of Sheff Utd in 2nd and 21 point clear of Dirty Leeds in 3rd.