Well it started so brightly. Soaked up the atmosphere at the station, felt great, that we had good chance of getting promoted, got on an empty train to Ealing Broadway, found a pub where you could get served quickly, get a seat and put osme good songs on the juke box, travelled to Wembley central, met up with loads of die hard royals in JJ Moons at Wembley central, walked up through Wembley way, singing and enjoying the atmosphere, Swansea and Reading fans getting along well, the sun starts to shine, get into Wembley, take our seats, amazing stadium, loads of royals decked out in blue and white, the teams come out, loads of cheering, getting more confident as 3.00pm approaches, kick off, looking good, strong in the tackle and then Khizanishvili makes that tackle in the penalty area, he practically mugs the Swansea player, oh dear! The rest is history.
Reading got some pride back with their second half performance but sometimes the experienced back four that is slow but sharp in positioning can sometimes look exposed for pace and that is exactly what happened. We were beaten by a team that didn't look that great but ran at us at crucial moments and either skimmed the midfield and defence or got the important fouls from a referee that was never going to tolerate hard tackles. Four, four two was never going to get the better of four two three one, particularly if the wingers are struggling for fitness. It is a gutting moment to say the least when you see your dreams of Premier League go out of the window by half time. What next for Reading.
Already the fire sale of players has begun, but one cannot help to think how many of our stars on show just did not get going. Shane Long, much criticised then lauded this season didn't get a sniff, marked out by the strong central defence partnership.Kebe, maybe match fit but certainly not match aware, huffed and puffed but could not cross a ball, never mind blow a house down, Mcanuff, definitely a good championship player and if we get £2-3 million for him it is a deal well done. The players I do not want to leave are Mills and Karacan, excellent players whom we can rebuild another promotion chasing team around.
One thing is for certain McDermott is our leader and he is staying at Reading for a while. He has done a wonderful in managing a team to the Championship play off final whilst selling off £30 million pounds of talent, something even the excellent Brendan Rodgers couldn't achieve.
Bring on next season. Urrzzz.
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