Reading - 2 (Brown 66. Harper 90.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson 76.)

Palace got this match underway, and the first action saw Noel Whelan get the ball through to Andy Johnson, but the defence blocked his shot. AJ then won a corner that Shaun Derry took, but again Reading got the ball safely away. Danny Butterfield fired in a cross, but unfortunately Tony Popovic got his kick all wrong, and the ball deflected safely behind the goalmouth. Nathan Tyson put the next cross in, this time at our end, but his shot was overplayed, and simply drifted behind for a goal kick. Graeme Murty then tried his luck centering the ball, but Tony was on hand to avert the danger.

Tyson was then caught offside before a good move saw Nicky Forster get a cross in to Tyson, his shot being blocked by Danny. A corner to Reading was deflected behind once again, and as it floated in John Mackie buried the ball in the back of the net. Before the celebrations could even commence the crowd realised that play had been called back due to a foul on Cedric Berthelin. Wayne Routledge then made a run on goal, Tyson deflecting the ball behind for a corner, which though fired in well by Gary Borrowdale was cleared once again by the defence.

Noel was caught offside as a promising move set up by Hayden Mullins was thwarted, but the previous felling of Cedric was about to take its' toll. Appearing to have suffered a groin strain Cedric was forced to leave the field, and so it was a welcome return for many to see Alex Kolinko take his spot between the sticks. A couple of corners to the home side were wasted, though Andy Hughes did create a fingertip save from Alex, and as Palace rushed to the other end of the park the move collapsed as a pass from AJ to Wayne failed to find its' mark. Mackie found his name first into the referee's book, for a foul on AJ, but the free kick found Tony caught offside as the defence moved well up, stranding the lanky Australian, and Reading took the opportunity to make their own substitution, Kevin Watson taking the place of Steve Sidwell.

Another free kick to Palace saw the defence clear the danger once more before Steve Thomson sent in a long-range shot that was just blocked by the defence. Forster managed to get clear of his man, but under pressure from Darren Powell he skewed his shot just wide of the post.

Wayne then fired a cross into the centre, and it was Shaun who was on hand to head the ball towards the goal, but unfortunately just too close to the keeper. Tyson then put a chip shot just over the bar before a free kick suffered the same fate, fortunately for Palace.

With an amazing four minutes of injury time added to the first half Forster managed to hit the post, and the half petered out with little further action.

Trevor Francis would have been pleased with the performance level of the team, but would have been wondering just why we had not managed to score at least one goal. In fairness, the same could well have been said for our opposition, so with honours even we faced the next half.

Palace made an immediate substitution at the start of the second half, Tony making way for Kit Symons, and Reading got the play underway once more. Noel managed to snap a chance at goal as he turned and fired in one motion, somewhat reminiscent of the goal he scored last week, but this time the ball sailed harmlessly over the top of the crossbar. A corner to Reading was cleared by our defence, and as Forster fired a cross back in Alex was able to easily clear up the danger.

Tyson tried a shot from outside the area, which Alex held on to once again, and straight away the ball was back at the other end, this time Shaun firing in a cross that was just a little too deep for AJ to collect, the keeper getting the better of him and sending the ball away to safety. A couple of corners to Palace were once again wasted before Luke Chadwick got the better of Alex, chipping the ball over his head for what appeared to be a certain goal before Danny managed to get there in time to send it behind for a corner.

Once that danger was cleared Palace won another corner of their own which Gary fired in to Noel, the Reading defence managing to clear the problem before he could get a decent touch to the ball. Tyson tried another shot that went straight to Alex, before a free kick to Reading was advanced 10 yards for dissent, leaving the chance right on the edge of our area. Murty rolled the ball to Steve Brown, and his shot went through the wall and under Alex to open proceedings for the match. Just what Palace did not want, to concede at this stage of the match.

Tyson was immediately taken off, John Salako taking his place, and Watson found himself as the second name in the book, for a foul that did not look that bad. As this happened Palace made their final substitution, Dougie Freedman taking the place of Steve. Kit cleared the next Reading forward move, but Forster got a shot in that fortunately went wide of the sticks. Following a foul on Wayne, Hayden took the kick which found Dougie, and his quick flick-on found AJ in space, his shot firing in to the back of the net, going just underneath the diving keeper. One apiece, and now there was everything to play for.

Alex had to be alert to fend off the danger at the other end, and he then made a flying save to deny Watson a goal. Hughes did get the ball in the back of the net once more, but he handled the ball in his effort to control it, and the "goal" was disallowed. Salako then shot wide when he should have done better, and once again we found ourselves facing four minutes of injury time. This time we were not so lucky though; as James Harper fired home an unstoppable ball, leaving Alex absolutely no chance whatsoever of getting down to the ball. Palace could certainly consider themselves very unfortunate in the circumstances.

There was no time for any further action, and as the sides trooped off one can only assume that the chance of a play-off spot is now very slim for the Palace cause. This will not stop us though from supporting the team come Tuesday night against the squatters.

Colin Pryce

Reading: Marcus Hahnemann, Graeme Murty, Nicholas Shorey, Steve Brown, John Mackie, Luke Chadwick, Andy Hughes, James Harper, Steven Sidwell (Kevin Watson 33), Nathan Tyson (John Salako 69), Nicky Forster.

Substitutes not used: Darius Henderson, Jamie Ashdown, Adrian Viveash.

Crystal Palace: Cedric Berthelin (Alex Kolinko 21), Darren Powell, Tony Popovic (Kit Symons 45), Hayden Mullins, Gary Borrowdale, Danny Butterfield, Shaun Derry, Steve Thomson (Dougie Freedman 70), Wayne Routledge, Andrew Johnson, Noel Whelan.

Substitutes not used: Julian Gray, Tommy Black.

Attendance: 18,063

Referee: Mr M Fletcher (Worcestershire)