It was always going to be a very tall order expecting Reading to scrape into the play-offs on the last day of the season, but in the end it felt like we hadn't even come close. Reading had to beat Watford and rely on Ipswich losing and Wigan and Sheffield United both failing to win. Wigan and Sheffield United produced results in Reading's favour but Ipswich managed a draw to secure their play-off position. A Reading win wouldn't have been enough as it turned out - but there was no danger of that happening with Reading ending the season with one of their poorest performances. To win at Watford would have meant winning three consecutive league games for the first time in the season and the fact that we couldn't do that underlines the fact that we were simply not good enough for the play-offs. Having said all that, this season, with Reading finishing ninth, is still our third best ever finish in the history of the club - quite some achievement considering the change over of managers.

WIth a play-off place still up for grabs the game attracted a decent away following that nearly filled the away end behind the goal. There was an excellent atmosphere in our end as the game got underway with random inflatables bouncing around the away end and the Watford fans very quiet. With so much still at stake and a decent away support you would have thought that Reading would have got more stuck in but they seemed strangely subdued throughout the whole ninety minutes. On a poor pitch that cut up very quickly the quality of football was not what you'd expect from two Division One sides and Reading looked the weaker side despite their lofty league position. We struggled to play the ball around and seemed to be opting for far too many long hoofs up the pitch. Bas Savage started again and did a good job of making himself the target of Ashdown's precise kicking, but despite his efforts still looked a bit clumsy on a pitch which every Reading player struggled to keep their feet. With players falling over and a series of mis-hit balls up field it really wasn't looking too promising.

Watford, with nothing to play for, were probably the more relaxed side and had the edge throughout the first half. Reading were losing out badly in midfield with James Harper having a poor game as he struggled to produce any creative play. Too often balls were played sideways and backwards until an eventual hoof up field led to a loss of possession. Watford seeemed to come off best from all of the 50:50 balls and were able to create the majority of the few chances in a scrappy opening forty-five minutes. Ashdown, maintaining his place in the starting eleven ahead of Hahnemann, showed why he's keeping his place with a couple of great stops to keep Reading in the game. He got down to save a low effort heading goalbound and did well to save a powerful effort heading into the roof of the net. With Watford starting to get on top he saved a strong header from close range by being in the right place at the right time when the ball was played in from a corner. Down the other end Murty had a good run forward before blasted the ball towards the corner flag with a hopeful shot. Adrian Williams was the other player to have a shot of note - his flying into orbit. Our strikers - Goater and Kitson were not really involved in the game at all.

Just before the break Watford took the lead when the ball was played in from the left in what was probably a cross rather than a shot. The Reading defence seemed to be missing and Ashdown was faced with too many possibilities to cover. A Watford player in the middle looked certain to make contact and slide the ball in at the near post, but somehow missed, and the ball hit the base of the far post and trickled over the line to put Watford 0-1 up. The goal was going to be enough to win the game and we could have probably guess that at the time.

The introduction of Paul Brooker after the break gave us some hope as Reading came out after the break looking a much improved side. Brooker was immediately involved down the left wing getting in an early shot that was blocked within a minute of the re-start. We also won a rare corner as we looked like clawing our way back into the game. Brooker looked capable of producing something and put in a couple of decent crosses - one of which saw Harper volley wide of the target. Brooker himself put in one of Reading's best shots of the game, again cutting in from the left, and firing in a shot that wasn't far wide of the opposite top corner of the net. Ten minutes into the half Owusu replaced the in-effective Goater and Morgan replaced Savage as Coppell tried deperate measure to find a goal from somewhere. Again there was a brief moment of brightness - but it fizzled out quickly.

With all three substitutions made and time running out we seemed to entirely run out of ideas and we never looked like scoring. Ashdown was again called on to make a couple of saves - holding a couple of on-target shots well as Watford looked more likely to increase their lead. Even with time running out we never looked deperate to get anything from the game and failed to push extra bodies forward. It was clear this was the end of our season. With the exception of Jamie Ashdown no-one really shone for Reading today - it was an awkward kind of game with a real end of season feel to it. At full time the players came over to take the applause from the travelling fans, which they were duly given. There was a feeling that no-one had really expected us to make it today. It was a poor performance today but at least we'd managed to keep the season alive until the final game. A ninth placed finish makes it not a bad season overall, despite having little to get excited about in the league. Coppell can now look forward to building up the squad ready for his full first season in charge.
Graham