An astonishing thirty minutes of football in the first half saw the lead change hands four times as both teams played some excellent attacking football which produced seven goals. Reading may not have matched United for elgance and style but their committment to attack had the league leaders reeling and were rewarded with some stunning goals. It was like watching the edited highlights on Match of the Day. Reading may have suffered their third defeat in eight days at the hands of United, but must surely look back on this performance with a certain amout of pride in the quality of their attacking play.

Robson-Kanu ignited the game with a technically perfect left foot volley which flew past Lindegaard after eight minutes. Anderson levelled the score five minutes later. A flowing United attack saw Anderson hit a delightful volleyed first time ball out to Young before receiving the return pass inside the box to hammer past a startled Federici at the near post. Caught up in the excitement Tabb lost his head and clattered into the back of Evans as the ball ran harmlessly away from goal in the box and Rooney calmly put the Reds ahead from the spot. Reading fans went quiet excpecting a deluge of goals, but to everyone’s surprise Reading continued to take the game to United and they were clearly rattled. Le Fondre equalised as he reacted first to head Shorey’s corner past Lindegaard and Van Persie on the line. Rafael and Evra were being tormented on the flanks by McAnuff and Robson-Kanu as Reading enjoyed an equal share of possession. Rafael in particlar found it hard to cope and was booked before Alex Feguson removed him to sulk on the bench and to aviod further embarrassment. Reading restored their lead with a thundering header from Morrison from another exclllent Shorey corner. It was hard to believe what was happening!

Unfortunately for the Royals, United not only possess great talent, they are also very professional. They exhuded confidence even when behind, and the combination of Young and Evra surging down the left was simply too much for Reading’s defence finally creating an opportunity for Rooney to side-foot United level yet again seven miutes later. The winning goal came after thirty-four minutes when Rooney’s subtle flick sent Van Persie clear of Reading’s square back back four. He was never likely to miss, but made it look easy as he slid the ball past Federici. United were denied a fifth when Marriappa cleared off the line on forty minutes. (TV replays show it was over the line but in my opinion Reading did not desreve to go in two goals down at half time.)

Fletcher and Carrick secured their stranglehold on midfield in the second half as the game inevitably slowed down. Van Persie missed a good chance to finish Reading off when Fedrici dithered over a back pass and was dispossessed. Van Persi demonstrated even the best strikers are human missing the empty net as he lost his balance in applying the finish and the ball flew wide. Instead of offering an apology for his error, Fedrici then proceeded to pass the responsiblity for the mess to Mariappa.The respect earned by Reading can be measured in the relative caution from United in the second half and Lindegaard’s time-wasting from goal kicks. There was also, I’m sure, more than a hint of anxiety in the United ranks when Morrison rose to meet a corner in the closing minutes.

Typically on Match of the day, Alan Hansen attributed the Reading goals to poor defending by United, failing to acknowledge the impact of the pressure placed on the United defence by Reading’s fine attacking play. It goes without saying Reading do need to tighten up at the back but they played well enough today to worry other teams at the bottom of the league. There were some good performances today but most pleasing is the emergence of Robson-Kanu who must now established himself ahead of Kebe as first chioce. Apart from a fine goal, the way he turend Evra inside out and his willingness to take players on gave Reading a cutting edge which could be crucial. Next week’s game at Southampton brings togther the two leakiest defences in the league and promises more goals. Reading must gain at least a point at St May’s, not only to aviod slipping deeper into troube, but also to maintain morale.
John Wells

Enjoyable game, with more bright spots than I would have expected. Both wide men played well, especially HRK (whom I have not seen play better). We were a bit lacking up front in my view, and a couple of times in the first half we had chances to get the ball in the box but there was no more than one or two Reading shirts anywhere near.

Tabb probably my man of the match. We looked weak on our right, but as others have suggested, theat may have been the knock-on impact of paying so much attention to the middle and stopping RVP (which we did quitewell at, despite his one goal).

Disappointed with the first goal (think Feds should have stopped it, and Macarthy probably would have done), and giving away such a soft/needless penalty.

A bit sad we couldn't make more of an impact second half, but I guess MU had identified the problems, tightened up, and played out the game. Felt we could have made more of our set-pieces second half - we had United reeling with them in the first half hour.

Encouraged. I don't get the peevishness of some posters on here. Losing by one goal to United is not shameful. Doing it with today's style is what makes being in the top division fun.
Elm Park Old Boy

A very enjoyable game and a good evening out at the Mad Stad. Obviously disappointed that we didn't grab an equaliser, but it was definitely a vast improvement on the Villa game. Tabb had another excellent game, and I thought Leigertwood was better with the ball, not giving it away needlessly. Our wingers threatened, Hal was particularly impressive. I don't recall much in the way of hoofing either. Shame our defence is letting us down.
sputnik

Well that was jokes wasn't it. At last, a Reading game I quite enjoyed. Ok, so we are hilarious defensively - the third goal was particularly abject - but we gave it a good go throughout, finally kept some shape second half and could maybe have snatched something from it. We're very clearly going to be relegated this season so at least lets try and make the games as enjoyable as that was. This was a million times better than the rubbish we served up at Villa, although we clearly raised our game today. United were generous with their defending as well, they will win the league this season but this is hardly one of their great sides of all time! Two negtatives were Shaun Cummings - played narrow and looks out of his depth, the alternative being Gunter means we'll be weak in that position until at least January. And Federici, who made an absolute meal of a routine back pass and then set about blaming the defence. If anything summed up his miserable efforts this season it was that sorry little incident, I'd rather hope he'd be a little more circumspect and humble by now.
floyd_streete

The Madejski Stadium has already hosted its share of see-saw goalfests this season and provides more questions than answers about the overall quality of this United side.

The first half alone was an epic, showcasing seven legitimate goals, another wrongly adjudged not to have crossed the line, appalling defending that warranted a pre-half time tactical substitution and the kind of end-to-end football used to justify the Premier League's unofficial reputation as the best league in the world.

Reading may not be taking any points but they deserve their share of the plaudits for a committed contribution to a game from which any reward would have been a bonus in their quest to extend their top-flight stay to a second season.

The most notable examples of defensive frailty came from the title challengers, who fell behind to the first goal for the 14th time this season - when Jonny Evans's poor clearing header allowed Robson-Kanu time and space to lash in from close range - and then conspired to fall behind again midway through the half when identical Nicky Shorey corners were headed home in the box by Le Fondre and Morrison respectively.

Reading manager Brian McDermott: "It was a fantastic effort and quality as well. I'm so proud of our players today. We know what our agenda is for this season. There is no problem with confidence from our players. I think we are becoming people's second team in the Premier League. We want our results to match our performance and hopefully that will come. Hopefully it is good to watch for our fans."
BBC Sport

After the storm came the drought. This was a contest that featured a seven-goal avalanche inside 34 minutes but then fell barren, yet was still unmissable and had Sir Alex Ferguson branding the experience "agony".

Eight minutes had been played when this chronically leaky United defence allowed Jay Tabb to turn the ball to Jobi McAnuff. He swung in a cross, Jonny Evans's header went straight to Hal Robson-Kanu and his volley beat Anders Lindegaard via a deflection from the defender.

The first of United's two equalisers came when Michael Carrick found Anderson, who moved the ball on to Ashley Young, and when the Brazilian took the return he blazed a rocket of a shot past Adam Federici. Anderson's celebration featured a kind of strutting tap-dance on the spot.

That was after 13 minutes. Within 90 seconds Wayne Rooney gave the visitors the lead. From the Liverpudlian's corner Evans controlled the ball and, as he brought it down, Tabb decided to barge him over. Rooney beat Federici from the penalty spot.

Now came two Reading goals, each unmarked headers from corners delivered by Nicky Shorey.

This was simple, schoolboy stuff but United could do nothing to repel either. First Shorey's 19th-minute delivery found Adam Le Fondre and as Rio Ferdinand went wandering the No9 finished. Then Sean Morrison produced a carbon copy, rising to meet Shorey's kick to give Reading a hardly credible 3-2 lead.

By the time the clock showed 34 minutes it would be 4-3 to United, and Rafael had first been booked, then hooked by Ferguson (on 28 and 31 minutes, respectively), with the Brazilian apparently ignoring his manager's conciliatory gesture to embark on a sulky pout he still wore on half-time.
The Guardian