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THE AWAY END - THE MADJESKI STADIUM - 4-12-07
John Powls
The Build Up To The Game
The websites this past week have been full of unrelieved gloom. No-one could bring themselves to believe that there was anyone currently at the club that knows how to get us out of the bind we're in.
Despite our worst ever start to a Prem season and no win in three months Gibbo has made it clear that Gate stays, no matter what, even with other club round us making a change. Gate then told us that there's not money to strengthen much in the window.
Early last week I took the radical step of stopping posting to my usual sites and blogs until MFC do something positive to change our circumstances. My final (for now, I hope!), frustrated posting summed it up thus. "There's no point in us endlessly repeating ourselves on here. We're preaching to the converted but down at St. Gibbo's they're not listening. Their congregation are la-laa-ing along to the Chairman's tune with their fingers in their ears."
The injuries mounted again - for every one that came back we seemed to lose another; you wondered whether some weren't hiding. Arca got fifty minutes in a reserve game but we've lost Mido for maybe another three months, Schwarz for the rest of this year - if the Sorensen rumours are true has he played his last game for Boro? - and Taylor for who knows how long.
The Reading Chronicle Sports section carried quotes from Coppell which damned Gate with faint praise, essentially saying, "Nice guy, it's a shame it's happening to him. I hope he does well after Saturday." What it didn't say was "Top Drawer Manager - he'll pull them out of it." Telling.
The only piece of positivity in there was from that nice Mr. Paylor of The Evening Gazette who got a guest column and said that a win was a must and we would get one by the single goal.
Reading fans haven't enjoyed the start to this season as much as last blaming it on second season syndrome or no pre-season due to a commercially inspired tour of Korea. But they know their team seldom slips up at the 'Mad Stad' against teams outside the top four. They have been confident they will win come Saturday and have rubbed my nose in the come back from two down to win against us in their first ever Prem game on the opening day of last season.
My mate Ian from Derby is joining Phil and I for the game - our 'home' Away End. We will be joining him for the 'return leg' at Derby on 15 December for the next Away End.
We have been texting and e-mailing eachother all week about the arrangements but every time we seemed to have more bad news about the team and the club. On Friday he texted to say he had been in bed with a bad back. I wondered if he was going to hide too and we agreed that he shouldn't seek help from the Hurworth physios!
The Game
As befitted the first day of December the overnight rain had relented and left a bright and blustery afternoon with the threat of heavy showers over Reading's neat ground.
We failed on getting the ritual gristleburgers with cheese and onion having been misled by a club steward who swore blind that we could get them inside the stadium. Ian and I made the mistake of trying the pasties and pies with a decent pint but Phil is a purist in these matters and refused any alternatives.
As we munched, I asked Ian (who had passed a late fitness test on his back!) and Phil when the last time was that any of us felt confident going into a game. None of us could remember. Instead, I recalled the quote from Eastwood, C as Harry Callaghan - 'Do ya feel lucky, punk(s)? Well do ya?'
But none of us even felt like lucky punks either - more as though we were going to get the bullet!
But deep inside me a small voice that persists can't be persuaded that we're not going to get something today and, sad man that I am, I couldn't help but be excited by being at a Boro game again. Ian wondered if he'd brought his boots whether he'd have got a game up front - he reckoned it'd be quiet up there and he'd be able to rest his back!
The ground was far from full - Reading have been suffering from a surfeit of blue plastic recently just as we have suffered in red at the Riverside. I was surprised that The Away End was only half full too - most unusual for a game in the London area. But despite it all The Away Enders were in good humour and voice throughout and shouted down the Reading fans. It was good to have been amongst my own again!
We had two and a half shocks before the game even started. First we were told by the lads we were sitting next to that O'Neil wasn't in the squad. It turned out later that he had picked up a fever. They then told us that Simba was starting up-front. All three of us and indeed everyone around us were absolutely incredulous but when we heard the stadium announcer it was confirmed as true. Phil and I berated Ian for not having brought his boots!
The 'half' was that despite all the brave words in the week Arca hadn't even made the bench. We agreed that it was probably sensible not to have risked him and hoped that he hadn't suffered one of our famous 'setbacks' after the reserve game in the week.
I was now wondering whether the 'still small voice' inside was going to be wrong for once!
The first half was pretty forgettable - two poor teams, low on confidence and showing why their recent records looked like a Roman numeral for some pretty big number. Both struggled to conjure anything meaningful. But, on balance Boro were the better and tried to be the more positive.
Johnno showed some bright touches and runs and was a shade unlucky to see his shot come back off a post having been deflected by Hahnemann's heel as it went through his legs when he knew nowt about it. The Boat got the ball in the net but was clearly a mile offside.
Aliadiere ran himself ragged and had some decent attempts but, short of a partner up front as Simba had long since disappeared, sometimes over-ran the ball. Turnbull did what he had to do pretty well, though he wasn't often under any pressure because our defence was reasonably competent and they were very poor coming forward.
Ominously, what The Royals did offer came via Kitson. He ran well and made himself a target and when he got the chance he made Turnbull work by shooting on target. His display showed everyone what we were missing in not having a 'line leader'.
We survived the 'red zone' at the end of the half and when Ian, Phil and I reviewed the first half with the folks round us, the general consensus was that we had done OK in a poor game and had shaded the half without getting ahead. Given our recent record that had most of us worried. But it was obvious that Reading were just as bad or worse than we were and that we could get something in the second half.
The big talking point, however, was why Gate had picked Simba? His first half display proved again how poor he is. He has no touch, no pace, no tricks or skills at this level. He can't win headers, doesn't make a decent run and can't pass. He offers no threat to the goal with headers or shots and, more often than not he loses the ball when it's played up to him. He has no presence, physical or otherwise. As a result of all of this he has no confidence. Aside from all of that he's OK!
We all knew this before the game. So why did Gate pick him for a match that might have decided his future as manager? None of us could answer with anything that made sense but I did venture that picking Simba was the sort of decision that should have cost Gate his job on the basis of that alone. We all wondered what Tuncay - and even Hutchinson - sitting on the bench must have been thinking if they can't get a game ahead of that.
We all hoped that Simba was subbed at half-time but no; we started the second half unchanged. And so did the game that had begun to have the proverbial 0-0 written all over it. Simba - if anything - had actually managed to get worse and started to fall about as though he was taking knocks. Then he bottled a challenge with Hahnemann when he could have got a header in with a little more courage.
Lacking any sort of success in any other means of attack Reading resorted to the sort of alehouse, route one ball that Villa had unhinged us with the week before. Obligingly, our centrebacks fell for it again and allowed Doyle to flick on to Kitson.
Even then the danger could have been averted but Turnbull made a naïve mistake and had a rush of blood to the head and a rush off his line towards Kitson who, seeing the fluorescent yellow charge vacating the goalmouth, lobbed it into the empty net. Oh that we had someone who could do that!
Going ahead briefly woke up the Reading crowd but their team returned to business as usual and the game looked to be settling back into its old routine. None of us could understand why Gate wasn't trying to effect the game by making subs and by now even Simba had taken to throwing himself to the ground every two minutes, getting gingerly to his feet and rubbing his leg, so desperate was he to get off the pitch.
Eventually, on seventy minutes Simba resorted to directly signalling to the bench to take him off after yet another 'knock'. I wondered whether Gate would have actually made the change without that. There were a few desultory claps but mainly boos as Simba departed - it must be for the final time. Tuncay replaced him to a great reception from The Away End and Huth replaced Woody who also seemed to have picked up a knock.
Immediately, we looked better. Aliadiere, who was still running his socks off, now had someone to work with and we began to threaten down our right side. The two forwards alternated at going wide and Luke Young supported. Johnno and Stewie kept their width whilst Rocky and The Boat backed up. We began to threaten and get on top as we picked up the pace of our attacks.
Our best passing movement of the game switched the ball from wing to wing and some determined work by Stewie kept the move alive. The Boat found Luke Young wide and he produced a peach of a cross on the run. We had four attackers in their box to their six defenders.
Tuncay produced movement that showed why he is a Turkish international (and that Simba won't even understand when he sees it on tape, let alone be able to reproduce) to take him away from then in front of Sonko and he produced the deftest headed finish.
We all went wild, of course, and cheered Tuncay to the rafters as he shared what must have been a special moment for him with us. Brilliant!
The final few minutes of the game were more lively than what had gone before. The two scorers had last minute chances to add to their tally but in the end both sides settled for what they had, though we probably had more cause to be disappointed.
We stayed on to applaud the lads whilst their crowd had been leaving in droves from after we scored. We realised from the big screen that The Mackems had scored a winner in injury time that condemned us to the bottom three. This takes a little of the edge off an away point and a comeback but still not that elusive win.
We walk with Ian back to the shuttle buses to get him back to the station to begin what ended up a tortuous trip back to Derby. We agreed that a win should have been possible. Had we started with the team we finished with or had a couple of our wounded been available we would have got it.
We also agreed that the most we can expect from next week against The Gunners would be to avoid a humiliation. This would be especially harsh on young Turnbull's confidence. He was sound enough against Reading and we're going to need him for the next few weeks.
Later...
Phil and I got home in time to see Gate on Sky bemoaning us having given away another poor goal but pleased with our effort and comeback. But it was still not the win we needed and could have got had he done things differently.
In the next week he must be asked, directly, by a journalist what it is that he sees in Simba that no-one else does. Why he picked him for the Reading game and kept others on the bench and why, even when he was playing so poorly and clearly wanted to be off himself and we were one down, why it took him until seventy minutes to replace him.
On MOTD later we got the sympathy vote again and the obvious observation that 'Gareth needs a striker in January'. They all still assumed that Gareth would be around in January. Given the way that Gibbo has supported him that could be so but if we don't improve - and soon - then Gibbo's continued inaction masked as a 'vote of confidence' would be a vote to condemn us to The Championship.
I sometimes wonder if that's what Gibbo and MFC actually are prepared to accept. That's what their behaviours say to me. It seems that the vision of the promised land down at St. Gibbo's is 'a local team for local people' and that comes first, rather than the 'milk and honey' of the Prem.
On Sunday morning one of the strikers that Gareth needs - Mido - is on the Sky Goals on Sunday programme with another who may be in the frame - James Beattie. Despite being in London on Sunday morning Mido admitted to not having been at the Reading game the afternoon before.
He was very supportive of Gate and said that he has not lost the dressing room. But he offered no ideas of how Boro are going to get out of the relegation zone and even less about his return from injury - which seemed a very distant prospect. He came across as an intelligent, articulate guy who spoke well about his efforts to support grass roots football in Egypt.
But I'd rather he'd have been recovering from his exertions on the pitch than sharing a Sunday sofa with Kammy! Most of their post match analysis featured the almost heavyweight bout between Hahnemann and Sonko after a misunderstanding between them which nearly let Aliadiere in. It was the most passion Reading showed all afternoon!
Despite dropping into the bottom three it's been a better weekend than many others recently - but then that's not saying much, is it!
'Yerjokin'aren'ya' Quote of the Week
Gareth Southgate eulogises the injured keeper:- "Schwarzer is very, very good on crosses" Voted winner of the Skippy Scissorhands Memorial Award for Utter B******s in seven Words or less.
The Away End will be back after the Derby game on 15 December.
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John Powls is a published poet with five books of his work in print. He is a regular performer of his work at major literary festivals and exhibitions in the UK and America, often working with musicians, painters with photographer Carol Ballenger.
Check out Red Shoes 250 for more of John Powls, right here.
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