by Christof »
06 May 2019 23:10
tmesis sandman Very poor performance from Reading, sadly. Didn't really get going at all.
It'll probably be a good learning experience, in terms of where it's a good idea to pass the ball around or try little stepovers, and where it's not.
The frustrating thing is when they looked to get at Slough with pace, they looked dangerous. But instead they tried playing tippy-tappy and just got picked off time and time again as Slough pressed.
With a foot in both camps so to speak I couldn't really lose today, but will try and provide a neutral opinion.
The U23s were bullied by Slough which is no surprise bearing in mind the age and in some respects physicality gap. Manny Williams (twice the age of some of these lads) and Ben Harris up front for Slough absolutely schooled the Reading back line, and Tom Holmes got particularly rattled, giving away the pen and also getting up close and personal with Ben in one incident. Anyway, Reading looked good going forward but just weren't allowed to do it very often, as the Rebels dominated the middle of the park.
Agreed that the young 'uns should take it as a learning experience, and hopefully the B&B will sort out the rules of the competition for next season, if any of them bother entering.
One final point - for the love of all that is good, don't hold the final at Larges Lane again, awful place...