Well, that was a bit of a whirlwind, wasn’t it? The valiant 900 Loyal Royals who made the 400-mile round trip to Plymouth on Boxing Day were treated to a classic Reading Football Club rollercoaster ride.
A crazy opening half an hour saw the hosts go down to 10 men and Reading bag three. You’d have hoped that’d be that, but a poorly managed second 45 meant we were just a Joel Pereira penalty save away from a potentially very embarrassing collapse.
Alas, we held out and no matter how you get there, a 4-1 win away from home is nothing to turn your nose up at. Here’s how the fans reacted to the game…
Lewis Wing
The skipper set himself some very, very high standards in his first one and half seasons in blue and white.
However, in recent times he’s struggled to be as effective as he was at the start of his Reading career. Whether that’s more down to him or the way he’s been deployed is up for debate.
But on Boxing Day he was back to his best, and reminded the fans that he’s still by far and away our most important player…
A poor second half
The first half was outstanding, but the second half was a bit more of a difficult watch for the Reading faithful.
It was another sign that this team still has a lot of developing to do under Leam Richardson. This team is too sporadic, too inconsistent, and aren’t good or headstrong enough to keep calm when the heat turns up.
The end result was the most important thing, but how we got there concerned some fans…
An important win
It’s the festive season so we can’t end on a sour note, can we?
Yes, there is a lot to work on still, that much hasn’t changed, but the first half an hour – albeit aided by a red card for the home team – was very, very impressive.
If we criticise the bad bits, we have to praise the good bits – and this team is starting to show more of those. The fans are certainly beginning to see signs of progression…
Conclusion
The performance left a lot to be desired on the whole, but we know the situation we’re in.
A 4-1 win away from home in this division is not to be sniffed at, no matter how you end up getting it. Richardson is straight up and honest and he will know what we saw from 30 minutes onwards wasn’t up to scratch, but there are clear and obvious improvements being made.
Next up, a trip to Peterborough United. URZ.
