Fans' verdict: Reading 2 Saints 0
Although this is one of our most local matches, many saints fans found getting to the Madejski Stadium easier said than done. A house fire in Reading and very heavy traffic before kick off meant many of the 2,500 Saints fans found themselves arriving late.
On a personal note the last time I made the journey to watch Saints play Reading it was in the league cup on a cold and very wet evening. Reading were still playing at Elm park and I had the pleasure (if you can call it that!) of standing around in uncovered terraces not only catching pneumonia but also seeing my beloved saints humbled by lower league opposition. On that night I vowed to never come back!
George Burley had made 5 more changes to the starting line up bringing in his 3 new loan signings and hoping that Gregorz Rasiak and fellow new boy Peter Madsen could forge an instant understanding up top. Darren Powell came back into the centre of defence with Danny Higginbotham switching to left back.
The game started of at a good pace and for the first 15 minutes there appeared to be very little to choose between the two sides despite the gulf in league position. All the good work was unfortunately undone by a careless bit of defending by young Nathan Dyer that led to the royals record signing Leroy Lita having the easiest of opening goals.
What followed was a very entertaining 20 minutes where saints could, and properly should, have equalised. New boy Gregorz Rasaiak should have done better when given an opening and Alexander Ostlund, the Swedish fullback, was very unlucky to see his header come back of the bar.
The following move how-ever sealed he Saints fate for the evening as a long punt up field by Hahnemann was latched onto by Doyle and his first time shot found a way into the back of the saints net. Again with better defending, this time from Powell, the chance to score should never have arisen.
One of the things to come out of the second goal was the Royals use of rapid-fire ball boys. The replacement ball was coming onto the field of play before the ball going out had barely crossed the line! It is easy to see why the Premiership and conference have outlawed this usage, as it gave a considerable advantage to the home side and Burley was visibly livid with its usage.
The second half went by with very little for the Saints fans to cheer as Reading confidently killed off the game. You could sense that there was no way Reading were going to allow us back into the game and the home fans, fired up by being top of the league, were incredibly confident.
The plus points that can be taken from this performance was the drastically increased work rate, compared to recent showings, and the new boys who seemed to settle in well. In particular Richard Chaplow, the loan signing from West Brom, who looked very impressive.
There were also glimpses of a promising front line pairing of Rasiak and Madsen. Our next three league games are all at home so if the same effort can be put into these and with a little bit of luck we can look forward to pulling away from the dreaded drop zone.
It is very easy to see why Reading are top of this league, They are a very well organised side, aggressive and able to kill off teams effectively. The promised land beckons for the Madejski Stadium faithful however they will have to be wary of just how big a jump in class they will have to make in the summer to be able to compete. Without a few experienced signings I fear that they could go the same way as last seasons runaway champions, Sunderland.
On the night the better team did win, however if the Saints can continue to show this sort of passion for the remainder of the season and then build on it over the summer, hopefully we will meet Reading again soon, but this time in the premiership.