4th round who do you want

[tidus_mi2]

Terrible draw from a spectacle point of view but, if we manage to beat Uddersfield which will be a challenge in itself, Walsall gives us another great opportunity to late into the competition again.

Any excuse to extend my 0% record at Wembley.

[handbags_harris]

Walsall in my supporting history, think the first time we played them was 98/99. Didn't know much about them then but by Christ the matches against them were utter sh*te.

98/99 - H 0-1 (Keates); A 2-0 (Williams, Brebner)
00/01 - H 2-2 (Cureton 2; Leitao, Barras); A 1-2 (McIntyre; Matias, Byfield); N 2-3 (Cureton, Butler; Goodman, Rougier OG, Byfield)
02/03 - H 0-0; A 2-0 (Hughes 2); FAC H 1-1 (Aranalde OG; Wrack); FAC A 0-0
03/04 - H 0-1 (Samways); A 1-1 (Shorey; Leitao)

P11 W2 D4 L5* F11 A11 *includes FA Cup defeat on pens

02/03 the absolute nadir, four games against them, four goals across the 390 minutes played, we scored three, they scored one and yet it seems they still managed to get the upper hand against us.

Hopefully that was just a blip in form, hopefully we'll despatch Huddersfield and look forward to a tricky tie against a good side who have been knocking on the promotion door for a few seasons now. Can understand their POV, we're hardly a plum draw but it gives both sides a chance of progression. However from our side, provided we do away with Huddersfield, you have to be confident with the firepower at our disposal, I genuinely believe our league position is in some ways false (there is no way we should be knocking around midtable with the squad we have) and feel that McDermott will have us improving game on game. Anyone who thinks it will be easy is deluding themselves, but if you look at the record books Reading sides of the past 10-15 years have a tendency to win these types of games where we are playing a team from a lower division, particularly in the FA Cup:-

00/01 - Grays Athletic 4-0; York City 2-2 & 1-3
01/02 - Welling United 1-0; York City 0-2
02/03 - Walsall 0-0 & 1-1 (1-4 on pens)
03/04 - PNE 3-3 & 1-2
04/05 - Swansea City 1-1 & 1-0; Leicester City 1-2
05/06 - WBA 1-1 & 3-2; Birmingham City 1-1 & 1-2
06/07 - Burnley 3-2; Birmingham City 3-2; Manchester United 1-1 & 2-3
07/08 - Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 & 0-1
08/09 - Cardiff City 0-2
09/10 - Liverpool 1-1 & 2-1; Burnley 1-0; WBA 2-2 & 3-2; Aston Villa 2-4
10/11 - WBA 1-0; Stevenage 2-1; Everton 1-0; Manchester City 0-1
11/12 - Stevenage 0-1
12/13 - Crawley Town 3-1; Sheffield Utd 4-0; Manchester Utd 1-2
13/14 - Brighton 0-1
14/15 - Huddersfield 1-0; Cardiff City 2-1; Derby County 2-1; Bradford City 0-0 & 3-0; Arsenal 1-2

12 ties encompassing 15 matches against teams in a division below, we've lost just three of them, two to York and one to Stevenage. We have only been taken to a replay twice by teams in a lower division in that time too.

P15 W9 D3 L3 F28 A15

Decent record for a club like us if you ask me. I only tend to worry if we draw teams in our own division which we invariably end up losing...

[Ian Royal]

I have to confess, I'm not even sure what division Walsall are in. I presume L1. Have we played them in the league since they beat us at Cardiff? I'm thinking not. How jealous they must be that in that time we've been to Wembley twice, won the Championship twice, had three seasons in the top flight and only finished below 30th in the League structure once... not to mention 2 FA Cup QFs on top of the Wembley SF. How our paths have diverged since that disappointing day in Wales.

We may be struggling a bit in the League, but if they think we'll be a pushover in the FA Cup they should take a glance at our record in it over the last 5-6 years.

[genome]

Decent record for a club like us if you ask me. I only tend to worry if we draw teams in our own division which we invariably end up losing...

Apart from three times last season?

[tidus_mi2]

They've become aware of our moaning about their confidence.

It's all getting very self-aware in here.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

They've become aware of our moaning about their confidence.

It's all getting very self-aware in here.

In that case, I'd like to send out a cheery "hello" to the good people of Walsall.

Sorry we're not a terribly glamorous draw, not much in it if it's us or Huddersfield, and you're right, you probably do have a better chance against us than you would against, say, Man City or Arsenal. Past matches between us have been truly sh1te, so hopefully history won't repeat itself should we meet again.

cheers!

Any reasonable Reading fan.

[CountryRoyal]

I'm sorry but their arrogance is hugely misplaced. Listen if they are supremely confident that they'll walk us then good luck to them, it will just make it so much sweeter if we beat them.

[handbags_harris]

Decent record for a club like us if you ask me. I only tend to worry if we draw teams in our own division which we invariably end up losing...

Apart from three times last season?

And what about the eight defeats in nine ties to teams in our own division prior to last season sat within the scope of my sample...?

[genome]

Not invariably though, is it?

[Victor Meldrew]

Handbags, your point is well made even if a pedant wishes to pick you up on your choice of words-perhaps "generally" rather than "invariably"?.
As mentioned on AE once upon a time this website was fun and some of the discussions interesting but it really has gone downhill in recent times with snitchy point-scoring "invariably" or "generally" being the most common form of posting.

[genome]

Handbags, your point is well made even if a pedant wishes to pick you up on your choice of words-perhaps "generally" rather than "invariably"?.

That full stop at the end of your sentence is unnecessary.

[Gunny Fishcake]

They've become aware of our moaning about their confidence.

It's all getting very self-aware in here.

In that case, I'd like to send out a cheery "hello" to the good people of Walsall.

Sorry we're not a terribly glamorous draw, not much in it if it's us or Huddersfield, and you're right, you probably do have a better chance against us than you would against, say, Man City or Arsenal. Past matches between us have been truly sh1te, so hopefully history won't repeat itself should we meet again.

cheers!

Any reasonable Reading fan.

Well said that man

[Victor Meldrew]

Handbags, your point is well made even if a pedant wishes to pick you up on your choice of words-perhaps "generally" rather than "invariably"?.

That full stop at the end of your sentence is unnecessary.

I award you the prize for best eyesight and the most pointless post of the day-the HNA pedant award for January.......(extra full stops as bonus points)

[Ian Royal]

I'm sorry but their arrogance is hugely misplaced. Listen if they are supremely confident that they'll walk us then good luck to them, it will just make it so much sweeter if we beat them.

I'd still not really give a rats arse.

[No Fixed Abode]

I have to confess, I'm not even sure what division Walsall are in. I presume L1. Have we played them in the league since they beat us at Cardiff? I'm thinking not. How jealous they must be that in that time we've been to Wembley twice, won the Championship twice, had three seasons in the top flight and only finished below 30th in the League structure once... not to mention 2 FA Cup QFs on top of the Wembley SF. How our paths have diverged since that disappointing day in Wales.

There's certainly no need to get worked up over a 'little club' like Walsall then.

[No Fixed Abode]

I'm sorry but their arrogance is hugely misplaced. Listen if they are supremely confident that they'll walk us then good luck to them, it will just make it so much sweeter if we beat them.

Says someone who is assuming Reading are going to 'walk' Huddersfield.....

[CountryRoyal]

I'm sorry but their arrogance is hugely misplaced. Listen if they are supremely confident that they'll walk us then good luck to them, it will just make it so much sweeter if we beat them.

Says someone who is assuming Reading are going to 'walk' Huddersfield.....

Look at my previous post and I think you'll find I said IF we beat them.

A conjunction which I'm sure you didn't use when talking about how you'd beat Bradford last season, or many other shit teams you lost to this.

[No Fixed Abode]

I'm sorry but their arrogance is hugely misplaced. Listen if they are supremely confident that they'll walk us then good luck to them, it will just make it so much sweeter if we beat them.

Says someone who is assuming Reading are going to 'walk' Huddersfield.....

Look at my previous post and I think you'll find I said IF we beat them.

A conjunction which I'm sure you didn't use when talking about how you'd beat Bradford last season, or many other shit teams you lost to this.

There really is no need to get so worked up over a team you might not even have to play.

[CountryRoyal]

There really is no need to get so worked up over a team you might not even have to play.

Why do you get worked up over us then?

[No Fixed Abode]

There really is no need to get so worked up over a team you might not even have to play.

Why do you get worked up over us then?

I'm not.