Post by steve on Aug 16, 2014 11:30:30 GMT
Thought I would take a trip down to The Camrose and take in Reading and Arsenal under 21’s on Friday night.
One thing struck me as the teams emerged from the tunnel and that was the size of some of these lads who in the main were around 19years old.
I thought Reading seemed to be a little apprehensive in the first half against their more illustrious opponents who had several youth internationals playing and went behind when a header that seemed to be going in was handled and a pen was converted. The Arsenal keeper had a couple of long range efforts to keep out in the first half but it was mainly Arsenal on the front foot who failed to add to their score.
The second half saw more from Reading and they did get the ball in the back of the net during the half but it was ruled out for offside. With no more scoring to the game the first half penalty won it for Arsenal. Overall I enjoyed the game. It’s always good to get the chance to watch professional clubs youngsters playing.
Looking on from the stands was Reading 1st team manager Nigel Adkins and sat next to him deep in conversation all the game was Mick McCarthy the Ipswich manager and they come up against each other today at Reading.
Looking around the old ground the pitch impressed me as it looked in very good condition and the size of the crowd was good, later to be told it was in access of 1,300. However, it was disappointing to note how many floodlights were not working and yet it’s the start of the season! Would have thought this would be something that the club should have addressed during the close season so everything was fine for the tie up with Soccer AM!
