Yeovil celebrated at the final whistle after holding the Royals to a draw after being reduced to nine men with twenty-five minutes left to play, and having only eight for the last ten minutes. It was indeed an achievement but not one of which they should feel proud. Manager Gary Johnson shamefully contributed the blatant cheating, batting the ball away to prevent Reading from taking a throw-in (an action which remarkably went unpunished by referee Mathieson). Time-wasting and feigning injury are tactics used routinely by away sides to disrupt games recently, and Yeovil certainly made full use of these strategies today. A lack of discipline resulting in a series of rash challenges which should have cost them the game resulted in three yellow and three red cards. Reading unfortunately were unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority in a complete shambles of a second half.

Reading started brightly and with Robson-Kanu and Mc Cleary switching wings and firing crosses in the first five minutes it looked promising for Reading. Outstanding defending prevented Le Fondre from scoring as he stretched to reach a low cross. As the game settled down the quality of play deteriorated rapidly. Yeovil had a considerable height advantage throughout the team and Reading’s passing was so poor (again) they played into their hands by resorting to long high balls to Pogrebnyak and Le Fondre. It was game which would not have looked out of place in League Two. Reading fans taunted the away fans with a chorus of ‘Going down’ and almost immediately were made to eat their words when McCarthy came out for high ball and did not quite make it allowing Duffy to loop a header over him into the empty net to give Town the lead. There were some nice touches from Le Fondre but Reading’s first shot on target was a feeble effort from McCleary in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

Akpan was sacrificed to bring on Guthrie at half time and he certainly brought a bit more stability and possession in midfield but mainly in deep, low impact, areas of the pitch. Reading were now passing the ball across the back four before hoofing it up field. The introduction of Drenthe brought a spark to the game winning a penalty resulting in a straight red for Wesbster . Le Fondre, having missed a good chance from a Gunther cut back, continued to misfire and his penalty was saved. His suffering lasted only briefly as his goalbound prod was somehow bundled into the Yeovil net by Lundstrum in a comical mix-up which did not involve any Reading players. Almost immediately Town lost Ralls following an ugly foul on McCleary and the visitors were down to nine men. The game was there for the taking. Pogrebyak had two headers saved, Guthrie had a powerful drive blocked and Obita shaved the post with a well flighted strike from outside the box. Things went from bad to worse for Yeovil as Moore saw red for a second yellow and the board indicated seven minutes of stoppage time.

Yeovil can count themselves lucky not to go down to an absurd seven players for another red card for a foul worthy of a second yellow but the referee had lost the plot by now. He was ignored by a Town player when he asked him to retreat for a free kick on the edge of the box and allowed the kick to be taken with the defender a mere five yards away from the ball. Doubts about Adkins tactics continued to grow as he threw on Blackman and removed Gorkss. The team had lost its shape altogether, and as the main ploy seemed high balls in to box, it might have more sense to push Gorkss forward as he was the most likely Reading player to win the ball in the air. It would be unfair to blame the manager for team bereft of ideas and apparently lacking an understanding of the basic principles of the game. With three extra men it was absurd for players to be running at defenders and conceding possession. There were must have been always at least three unmarked players available. Unfortunately nobody seemed interested in showing for a short pass, they were all gathering at the far post for crosses which almost invariably found the head of a huge Town defender. It was a situation which emphasised the lack of movement evident throughout the game.

Talk of the play-offs continue as several of the top teams are faltering, but Reading had sixty-five percent of possession and twenty-one corners today; played for long period against eight or nine men, and had to rely on an avoidable own goal to salvage a point at home against the team at the bottom of the league. This is not promotion form, and with only two wins out of the last seven home games, Reading will need to pick up some points from their next two away games to stay in the race.
John Wells

Does he tell them to panic & go direct or do they take it upon themselves to do that? We played some decent passing stuff at the start, they get the goal, we play like headless chickens for a bit & then they calmed down & started actually passing it again before the end of the 2nd half.

I'm not sure what the answer is. But with 9 men for what 20 mins, we really shouldn't be just pumping long balls when we could have quite easily passed it about & tired them out. Pearce was a classic example - he had plenty of opportunities 2nd half to take a second & make a decent pass, but no it got punted in the air. Fair play to Yeovil - they wanted it more & in a way I'm glad they got something. We really lack that killer instinct.
MmmMonsterMunch

First game I'd been able to get to this season as usually watching my lads play. Waterlogged pitch today, so thought I'd bring them along for a bit of an eductaion, and wondered why the oxf*rd I'd bothered at half time, the most turgid 45 minutes I've watched in a long long time. No-one wanted to put their foot on the ball, and Gunter spent the game hitting the long diagonal balls that Mills used to do - and just like his, they were incredibly ineffective. Think McCarthy had been watching old youtube clips of Shepherd for their goal :D

Introduction of Guthrie meant that at least we started to put put the foot on the ball and pass it about a bit. Thought Drenthe was a complete showman when he came on, just wish he had a little bit better final product.

Thought all their sendings off were fair, and as our strikers were being so reluctant to grab their opportunities, I was almost hoping they would get a couple of extra reds so the game would be abandoned and awarded to us. Still a very entertaining 2nd half...
One beer is never enough

YEOVIL Town weathered three sendings off and injury to their captain to somehow hang on to a remarkable draw at Reading. The Glovers deservedly led at the interval thanks to Everton loanee Shane Duffy's first ever goal for Gary Johnson's men before ten crazy minutes threatened to derail a valuable result in their quest for Sky Bet Championship survival.

Byron Webster and Joe Ralls both saw red as the Royals had a penalty saved before being gifted the equaliser. Moore was then booked twice in a minute to see a third visitor sent backing, with Yeovil digging in for a heroic share of the spoils.
Western Gazette