Reading Roars!

The FA Cup replay between Reading and Man United promised to be an exciting affair. And so it proved.

Reading roared into life after just 30 seconds, searing up the pitch as a thrilling wave of noise cascaded from the Madejski stands. Mark Lawrenson, commentating on BBC1 alongside John Motson, reminded us that the Royals will never have a better chance of making it to the quarter-finals.

But then it all went horribly wrong.

First Heinze shocked Reading, scoring from outside the box. It was a strike that really should have been stopped by Federici. But, no, it went in and the clock read just 2 minutes.

Worse was to follow. In less time than it took to boil an egg, Louis Saha doubled Man United’s lead, angling the ball past Federici, and Reading were beginning to crack.

And then another goal: Solskjær made the score 3-0 to the visitors. Six minutes gone and woeful Reading were being routed.

The Reds were quite simply rampant - and the Royals were risible. Reading’s game plan looked as muddy as the Madejski pitch.

Motson got excited. “I don’t believe it,” we were told. “I really don’t believe it,” he added, as if we didn’t believe that he didn’t believe it first time round. The crowd seemingly didn’t believe it either, and began the lame, unmotivating chant “Que sera, sera”.

But then things began to change.

Reading took on a different formation, 4-4-2, and the reward was immediate: an Oster corner (taken in what looked like a sandpit), led to an unmarked Kitson scoring from a header.

Oster continued to threaten, and was later responsible for two opportunities that found Kitson offside and Bikey heading wide.

At this stage I was thinking of the great Liverpool comeback against Milan (that comeback). Could Reading achieve something similar?

Much of the second half was uneventful. The last 10-15 minutes were, however, electrifying. Reading were, all of a sudden, making all the right moves, shaking United (who now had Rooney and Ronaldo on the field) and creating opportunities. Substitute Leroy Lita’s headed goal in the 84th minute was almost inevitable, and Gunnarsson rattled the crossbar with a fierce strike in the 92nd minute.

Sadly, however, as Reading valiantly pressed on, in search of that important third goal, the final whistle blew and the drama was over. The first quarter of an hour of the game was unfortunate. The final quarter produced perhaps the best Reading performance I’d ever seen.