Royals earn Cup replay after coming so close

By Matthew Grant
January 8 2004

Reading earned a replay after a thrilling first half at Deepdale infront of just under 10,000. All the goals came in the first half with Reading taking the lead each time but were unable to hold onto it.

The replay will be played at The Madejski on the 13th January and the club have reduced the ticket prices for the game which is now available to buy for season ticket holders. Though there should not have been the need for a replay after Reading took the lead three times in the game only to be hit back by a dangerous Preston team when going forward.

Reading continued with the 4-4-2 formation that worked well at Walsall though there were a number of changes in personal. Upfront saw Bas Savage partner Shaun Goater who returned from injury. Nicky Forster did not travel with the squad after picking up an injury and Lloyd Owusu was Cup Tied after playing for Sheffield Wednesday in an earlier round. Morgan claimed a place on the bench after Darius Henderson's departure to Gillingham a few days earlier.

It was a very lively and exciting start t the game which produced an early goal for the Royals. A deep cross into the box was met by the head of Goater whose header was to powerful for Gould and Reading were in the lead. It was Goater's first goal since the Reading last played Preston in that epic 3:2 win for the Royals. Though it did not take long for Preston to get back in the game. O'Neill got hold of the ball about 25 yards from the Reading goal and hit a shot that took a wild deflection into the back of the net leaving Hahnemann stranded. As the fans felt the game may start to settle down, 5 minutes later Reading regained the lead. A cross into the box looked like it was easily going to be cleared by Jackson but instead it skimmed off the side of his foot and into Gould's net. It was a great finish by the defender which left most of the ground stunned. Murty tried to claim the goal but it had to go down as an own goal!

The next 20 minutes saw no goals but on the half hour mark Preston got there selves back into it again. This time a cross into the box was met by the head of Ricardo Fuller who the Royals defence just simply not handle all afternoon. Again only 5 minutes after Preston equalised Reading went up the other end and scored. This time a deep cross by Murray deflected off another Preston defender and over Gould onto the net. By this time the Preston goalkeeper must have been rather frustrated, he had no chance with any of the goal and two of the went down as og's! Some of the Reading fans missed the goal as they were buying a pie or coffee including myself!. It was not the end of the exciting in the first half. As it looked Reading would go in at half time in the lead, another ball in the box from the left hand side was headed in by Fuller once more. The goal should have been stopped mainly by the Royals goalkeeper who was at fault.

Half Time: Preston North End 3:3 Reading

The second half saw the same amount of exciting but just lacking any goals. Craig Brown's half time speech to the Preston players defiantly worked because they were well on to of the Royals. Coppell decided to make an early change and took off Savage and bought on Dean Morgan. With Morgan's pace he was trying to hit Preston on the counter attack. Preston had a number of chances to win the game but were unable to get the ball in the Royals net. Preston's hopes of winning were all but ended when Fuller came off and that proved correct. Fuller is likely to return for the replay though.

Though Reading nearly won it right at the end when Morgan went on a run taking it round 4 players but his shot was saved well, that proved to be the last kick of the match and they will have to battle it out at the Madejski.

Full Time: Preston North End 3:3 Reading

Man Of The Match: Goater for his excellent goal and work rate and he is still lacking match fitness.

Ref Watch: Average, did make some odd decisions which disappointed both camps