Football Days

Madejski Stadium - Reading FC

Reading 2-0 Leeds United

06/04/12 - Championship

Att: 22,775

Good Friday presented an opportunity to re-visit a ground that's local to me, as promotion chasing Reading took on Leeds United at the Madejski Stadium. With a ticket in the Leeds end secured courtesy of Liam, I was looking forward to the match and with it being only a 20 minute train journey away I was also looking forward to a lie in.

Unfortunately I took lie in to a new level and I awoke to a text saying "I'm in Reading, where are you?" to which I respnded "in bed"... I was only an hour and a half late arriving and I felt obliged to get the first round of drinks in as an apology for my lateness. We set up camp in The Bugle in Reading town centre, opting to stay in town instead of getting to the stadium too early, as there's nothing to do there. So after a few beers we got the shuttle bus from the station to the ground and after a quick look around we headed into the away end, with about 10 minutes til kick off.

Built in 1998 the Madejski Stadium is lightyears away from the club's former home at Elm Park. It was built with the intention of ending Reading's time in the lower leagues, but their last season at their old home saw the club relegated to the third tier, which meant that their brand new stadium welcomed the likes of York City and Macclesfield Town in it's first season. After a difficult couple of seasons and a near miss when The Royals were beaten by Walsall in the play off final in 2001, results improved and Reading were promoted back to the second tier in 2002. After being beaten in the play offs the following term, a couple of seasons of mid-table mediocrity followed before Steve Coppell lead The Royals to a record breaking Championship win, as Reading recorded a record 106 points and lost only twice all season. Reading's first season in the top flight was a success, as they finished in 8th place and only one point away from qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Second season syndrome took it's toll on the team the following season, as they were relegated on the final day of the season despite a 4-0 victory at Derby.

Since returning to life in the Championship in 2008/09 Reading have missed out in the play offs twice, including defeat to Swansea at Wembley last season, but after a difficult start to this campaign they look like promotion certainties. Going into this game Reading had won 11 of their last 13, including a 4-2 victory at Upton Park last time out which cemented their position in the automatic promotion places. On the other hand, Leeds United went into this game in 10th place as Neil Warnock had only managed 2 wins from his first 8 games in charge and needed a win to keep their slim play off hopes alive.

It was a full house as we went into the South Stand, which housed over 3,000 travelling Leeds fans. It's been 8 years since The Whites last played in the top flight and the numbers travelling to watch an out of form side on Good Friday in a live TV game speaks volumes of the support that the club still enjoys. As with most newly built stadiums there are few distinguishing features, with three sides being the same height and design and the West Stand being slightly different with a row of executive boxes running along the middle of the stand. Unlike other new builds, however, the stands are very close to the pitch and the stands are very steep which can generate a good atmosphere with a noisy crowd.

The game got underway, with Reading in their usual blue and white hoops, while Leeds turned out in their away colours of black with a luminous trim. This was always bound to be a difficult match for the visitors and their task was made even harder after just 13 minutes when Zac Thompson was sent off for a lunge on Jobi McAnuff. With a man advantage Reading continued to press forward, but failed to create any clear cut opportunities as Leeds kept the scores level at half time.

Early in the second half Robert Snodgrass nearly gave Leeds the lead, but his free kick was turned round the post by Adam Federici. I think it's fair to say that Neil Warnock had taken a physical approach to the game and there were tackles flying in throughout the afternoon which didn't allow Reading to settle into a rhythm, much to the frustration of the home crowd. Leeds had an excellent chance to take the lead with 15 minutes to play when Snodgrass found himself through on goal, but he put his shot straight at Federici and after the home side had a goal disallowed they broke the deadlock in the 86th minute through substitute Adam Le Fondre. It was hard on Leeds who had worked hard with 10 men and had chances of their own to take the lead, but a few minutes later Le Fondre was there again to double Reading's lead and put the result beyond doubt.

It was a win that put Reading top of the league and ended Leeds' slim play off hopes. After the match we finally managed to get a bus back into town, where we went to Subway for dinner before going into William Hill where I collected my winnings after backing Le Fondre to score any time. Liam departed the scene, while me and Dan went to The Three Guineas and Wetherspoons before heading for home.

While the stadium isn't the most exciting place in the world it was still a good day out, with it being the second closest professional football team to my house it was an easy journey and the atmosphere created by the travelling Leeds fans bought a real sense of occasion to an otherwise mediocre match. It's true when people say if you've been to one new ground, you've been to them all but with it's location I'm sure I'll be going back to Reading again one day.