Reading FC: My Town, My Club: No Passion?
Article by Christian FrankClick here to follow E-Reading on Twitter!
A smash-and-grab win, 1-0 away at Glanford Park against League 1 strugglers Scunthorpe, has seen Reading move into the draw for the next round of the Capital One Cup. But the nature of the win, with Jake Taylor snatching a late goal against the run of play, left murmurings of discontent brewing amongst Reading fans.
The most important thing about the Royals’ victory was that the cup upset was avoided on a night when all the focus was on the 4-0 capitulation of Manchester United at the hands of MK Dons. The former champions of England gave the archetypal performance which the higher-profile team gives in a cup upset, with United defenders looking shambolic, attackers ineffective, and their players second to the ball consistently. Full credit should also be given to the Dons, who played fantastically and fully took advantage of the poor performance from their opponents. Thankfully Reading avoided being on the wrong end of the result in their second-round tie, but the story could have been very different.
The first half saw the Iron dominate the game, and like their fellow League 1 side against United they were showing more desire across the pitch than Reading, who are 28 places higher in the league structure. Reading were fortunate not to concede any of the 5 times that Scunthorpe tore through their defence, with Scunthorpe also winning 7 corners to Reading’s solitary corner-kick. The Royals looked toothless upfront, but had one golden opportunity, which Jamie Mackie squandered. The frustration was clear from the Reading fans, and rightly so, as the Royals seemed completely ineffective going forwards as Mackie, Simon Cox, Craig Tanner and Nick Blackman all failed to open a Scunthorpe defence which has conceded 10 goals in their 4 League 1 matches this season. Also frustrating was the number of fouls committed by the Royals as they grew frustrated with playing second-fiddle, and the inexperience of the Aaron Kuhl-Hope Akpan partnership was highlighted as they conceded 7 of the 13 fouls committed by Reading players in the first half.
The second half saw Reading grow into the game after Chris Gunter was switched to left-back following the half-time substitution of another Royals injury casualty, Shaun Cummings. Niall Canavan came close to putting Scunthorpe 1-0 up shortly after the 50 minute mark, and while Scunthorpe must have felt that it was only a matter of time until their domination changed the scoreline, Reading started to get shots on goal with Tanner and Blackman hitting the target.
It was the substitutions of Tanner and Mackie, replaced by Jake Taylor and Ryan Edwards, which proved to make the difference. The diminutive duo brought onto the pitch a much higher tempo and immediately set about changing the pattern of the game, as an opportunity was worked on the wing for Chris Gunter to surge forward and blast a shot just over the goal. Scunthorpe still looked the better team, but there was a much greater intent from Reading, and when former Royal Marcus Williams conceded a corner it was whipped in, the Iron failed to clear, and (as against Ipswich earlier this season) Taylor took his chance well.
A feeling of relief was universally felt by Reading fans on the final whistle after that 84th minute strike earned a place in the 3rd round, but the first half performance was very worrying and should not be forgotten quickly.
The lack of drive from the players as they came second to lower-league opposition was very frustrating, and is something that we have seen enough times from Reading under Nigel Adkins to make me wonder how well he psyches up his players for battle. To us fans he is a visibly passionate man during games, jumping, shouting and gesturing manically from the touchline. To new players he has charismatic appeal, with Oliver Norwood telling how Adkins “was a big factor in me signing with his energy [and] positivity.”
But last season we saw such disappointing defeats as the Peterborough cup catastrophe (6-0 away from home), the 1-3 home defeat to Barnsley, and those suffered as Sheffield Wednesday and Bournemouth both did the double over the Royals. If the Huddersfield home defeat this season is anything to go by, the failure to perform against opposition whom Reading are expected to beat may be another trend which can be spotted through the former Scunthorpe manager’s reign at the Madejski Stadium.
At a club which has seen its most successful period since the turn of the century Adkins needs to do more than simply repeat how he inspired the Iron to rise from lower league obscurity to the second tier during his career at Glanford Park, and last season it was highlighted that something was wrong in his approach as the Royals suffered defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at home (0-2 on the 8th February), yet rose to beat QPR away (3-1 the following Sunday).
With Reading continuing their #MyTownMyClub twitter campaign it is genuinely interesting to see where the passion comes from on the pitch, and Taylor looking more lively than the experienced Mackie against the Iron. The academy products continue to impress with their work rate as they get their first team opportunities, and Jake Cooper’s debut clean-sheet was another impressive contribution from one of the youngsters. Hopefully more images like those of Jake Taylor kissing his badge and Alex Pearce raising his fists in celebration will continue to present themselves this season, with the local lads inspiring more from both their teammates and their fans.
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