Reading is a fairly dour place to visit. The closest fans get to sampling the character of the area is by riding the buses to and from the car park – which I didn’t.
The ground is the archetypal flat-packed number, constructed in 34 minutes by a bald man with a toolbox and positioned on a hill in the middle of a motorway.
Its inhabitants are a queer sort too. Some are abrasively cosmopolitan, riding their bikes to the stadium and ‘taking calls’ mid-game. Others fancy themselves as cockney mobsters.
All of them are boring.
What made the day enjoyable was the vast army of travelling supporters; an ocean of red and white flooding the visitors end. This was one of those occasions where everybody, young and old, fat and thin, stands to sing in unison – generating the kind of volume that makes home fans screw up their faces in embittered respect.
Robert Earnshaw was given such a boisterous welcome I’m surprised Federici in the Reading goal wasn’t partially deafened.
After several months of idling in shopping centres and pretending to enjoy cricket – this was bloody good fun.
And the game? A solid but never outstanding start to the season, and a performance that laid bare a fundamental weakness that’s no secret to anybody – our defence.
Reading are a tight unit with lofty ambitions. Earning a point in their back yard is a satisfactory opener, but they had the lion’s share of the chances.
Gunter and Morgan were solid, but Lynch and Chambers - grimace-worthy names at the best of times – were responsible for persistent backside-clenching in the away end.
Both held their own in the air, but Reading’s forwards regularly left them sprawling with fairly tame advances.
Elsewhere we were competent, despite an eyebrow-raising team selection that left our bench looking stronger than it has for a decade or more - arguably as strong as the starting eleven.
We were set up to contain and niggle, clearing our throats for impact players to steal points from the bench late on. It nearly worked.
We rode our luck, allowing the home side too close for comfort several times. But Earnshaw was only denied a late winner by a remarkable right-place-right-time save by Federici.
It isn’t champagne stuff, but this is the Davies way. And it’ll do for me.
Camp – 7 – solid, mouthy, and always on hand to gobble up crosses – even if he has to have a bit of a juggle first. Camp is a great all-rounder, and the couple of gaffes he’ll make per season will be more than compensated by his general excellence.
Gunter – 7 – dependable at the back with several excellent last-ditch tackles, eager to get forward, and extremely hard-working for a young player whose ego has been consistently massaged for several years.
Morgan – 7 – usually starts the season with two months of overweight lumbering, but this was a tough performance.
Chambers – 5.5 – not a calamitous display and he was solid in patches. But he was stupidly red-carded and never looked far from an error. He is beaten too easily when the ball is at an opponent’s feet.
Lynch – 5.5 – as ever, he was a lot more dependable in the final third than in his defending.
McKenna – 8 – throws himself into wild challenges without fear or apprehension, breaks up attacks and distributes sensibly. He’s what Sammy Clingan should have been but never was. I hope this is what he’s always like.
Majewski – 7 – I liked him a lot, despite wondering off the radar once or twice. When he is involved he buzzes incessantly between the strikers and the midfield, eager for possession, eager for a sight at goal. He always looked agonisingly close playing a remarkable pass or through ball, only to be a couple of inches out. He’ll be very useful, I’m sure – although he was lucky not to be sent off.
Cohen – 6 – he’s never quite at home on the left, and his usually indefatigable engine seemed rather subdued. Injury interrupted his pre-season, he will be fine.
Garner – 6.5 – a dismal first half in which he looked as confused as the rest of us to be on the right wing. Perked up in the second 45 with a gutsy display, no doubt inspired by Davies was screaming into his ear from a yard away.
McGoldrick – 6.5 – some nice touches and decent movement. He’s a good footballer, but will he and his counterparts be happy about the timeshare agreement awaiting them?
Adebola – 7 – played a vital role in bruising his way to flick-ons and making something from very little when we had to clear our lines quickly. We’d have lost without him.
Subs:
Earnshaw – 7
Tyson – 6
McCleary – 6
