I hate this game - back from Wembley

[Mr Angry]

Disappointed but not gutted; hugely proud at the come back which, had Jem's shot been 6 inches to the left, would have been complete.....the atmosphere during that fightback was utterly immense.

Some quality football by both sides, and both sets of fans produced a fantastic day, both before and during the match.

Sad that 3 or 4 stupid errors let Swansea in; both pens were stonewall for me, and the first time finish for their 3rd was excellent.

Also sad that we have likely seen the last of a number of players in Reading shirts today, but we would have had to buy in new players regardless of todays result.

Phil Dowd is overweight. That is all.

[floyd__streete]

GO AWAY

I've just realised that you must have had just as sh*t a day as I did. This thought cheers me up.

[floyd__streete]

Phil Dowd is overweight. That is all.

Was thinking that myself. He missed a lot today and I wonder whether he struggles to keep up with play due to his rather large girth.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

Well after the waking abortion that was much the first half I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Great heart for the team to come out again and run it so close.

Too many what-ifs, posts hit. chances missed etc to give a considered view tonight but a fantastic experience, once again showing the potential of this club.

I just hope the scale of the Trolling, mong-fest, over-reaction on here can be kept reasonable......

[Ian Royal]

Arse. No idea if the penalties were correct or not, looked dodgy from up in the gods. The ref gave us absolutely nothing all game and blew in their favour for the slightest contact on every occasion ignoring plenty that should have gone to us.

But, in all fairness, we still gave him the decisions to make. You didn't see Swansea giving him a chance to give us a penalty. They tore us to shreds at times and if they hadn't have so obviously won the game in the first half I doubt we'd have been able to come back as strongly after HT.

Apart from the collinder defending at times, I actually thought we did pretty well against them and were so close to getting back on level terms, which would have been fantastic. I was worried we were going to get humiliated at one point, but we played our part and gave the neutrals something to enjoy and our fans something to be proud of.

A word on our fans.... I thought they were excellent, given I was miles from the "singing" section we were still pretty loud when we weren't stunned into depressed silence.

Won't comment on the players. For now at least. They tried hard, that's all that matters.

[Joe 90]

Been there when:
Man City stuck seven on us
We nearly became Thames Valley Royals
Terry Bell's own goal sent us down into the Fourth Division
Robin Friday brough heaven to earth against Tranmere one cold Elm Park evening
Simod Cup V Luton
Play off heartache against Walsall
The 106 team swept all before them
Two years later it all turned to rat poo
etc.
etc.
Today ........

This is what it means to be a Reading fan ...

Plastics, WUMs, wusses need not apply.

[LWJ]

So many spotteds. I led the singing in the Green man

First 15 we were goood. After that we were dreadful. Second goal why was the freekick given before No complaints with penaltys. We played well first 25 of the second half. But lost it by inches. If Jem's shot had gone slightly to the left. We would of won. If Feds had stretched 3 inches more to his right to save the penalty we would of gone on to win.

[percy_freeman]

We wern't that good
Wish we could make as much noise as them but clearly 60% of our fans don't know the songs
I am totally gutted about today
Not unhappy about the bigger picture
Any of those players think they are good enough for the Prem, go.
Leave me alone

[Uke]

Can hold our heads high, sang louder when we were losing that Swansea when they were cruising. Dominated the game for most of it, thought they were boring as hell and we gifted them goals, they need a massive overhaul if they're to stand a chance next seaosn. Won't be disappointed to have the likes of McCarthy, Cummings and Pearce starting ahead of Feds, Khiz and Griffin in the future. Our talented academy prospects can be nurtured at the club next season rather than on loan and I've got loads of easy away fixtures to go to.

Really couldn't care much about being in the Premier League but would have been nice to have been able to celebrate after the final whistle. Reading fans leaving the stadium singing with pride and smiles on faces, I love this club!

^^ This! A new team will be great.

I think next season will really be the test of Brian as a manager. We still had SSCs momentum, the next team will be the first with no connection to those glory days. Good Luck Brian!!


Had a great time at the back of Block 237! Missed our first as I was drowning my sorrows at half time. Shame about the result

Looking forward to the Posh next season as it's my "local" match

[pea]

Must say, very good support up in the rafters, was surprised to see people complaining about others leaving early because didn't really see any in my section. Obviously a day for generic Reading chants though as a lot dont know the better songs well enough but looking forward to all the good away days next season now!!

[Uke]

Must say, very good support up in the rafters, was surprised to see people complaining about others leaving early because didn't really see any in my section. Obviously a day for generic Reading chants though as a lot dont know the better songs well enough but looking forward to all the good away days next season now!!

We had a round of the "When Hicks" chant in our block

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Can hold our heads high, sang louder when we were losing that Swansea when they were cruising. Dominated the game for most of it, thought they were boring as hell and we gifted them goals, they need a massive overhaul if they're to stand a chance next seaosn. Won't be disappointed to have the likes of McCarthy, Cummings and Pearce starting ahead of Feds, Khiz and Griffin in the future. Our talented academy prospects can be nurtured at the club next season rather than on loan and I've got loads of easy away fixtures to go to.

Really couldn't care much about being in the Premier League but would have been nice to have been able to celebrate after the final whistle. Reading fans leaving the stadium singing with pride and smiles on faces, I love this club!

*Mostly* this.

[Svlad Cjelli]

I'll add this here as it says everything I would have put in this thread.....

http://thetilehurstend.co.uk/2011/05/30/made-a-note-in-my-diary-simply-said-bugger/

[Kitsondinho]

I don't feel as bad as after '95 or '01. In '95 we blew the chance to be 3-0 up and it looked like we would never go up after we lost. In '01 we were the 'bigger' club and were coasting towards victory before the Rouge moment.......

Anyway today was a weird day. Our game plan depended on us not going behind early on. Kish's chest on Borini was silly, he had no need to get involved like that. this seemed to rattle him. The same thing had happened to Griffin a few mins earlier with that sliding challenge. Then all of a sudden we were 2-0 down, then 3-0. At half time I feared a pasting. I joked about us doing an 'Istanbul'.........and we were the width of the post away from it. We were superb for 20 mins of the second half. Everything changed again when Pratley came on. He calmed the Swans down and shored up their midfield. Brian didn't seem to do anything about this change. They began to take full control again and despite a few corners we failed to create much in the final 15 mins. Part of that was obviously because we went 4-2 down! Despite our comeback, unlike the previous two finals, once Swansea went 1-0 up I felt we just wouldn't be able to come from behind. Maybe this is why I don't feel so upset. Cardiff '01 remains the worst feeling ever!!

Our fans were magnificent today. We sung much more than the Swansea fans did in that first 20 mins after half time and it felt like we were in the lead. I was also really pleased with the amount of people who hung around to clap the team off. There were many of us singing in the train queue too!! I admit it didn't last long, but it was nice to hear. We overachieved this year......next year I think we should be there or there abouts IF we keep most of this squad together. If we lose more than 2 or 3....we'll be mid to lower table and could even be fighting the drop!!

[Big Ern]

Gutted! That just about sums up how I feel at the moment. Our heroics in the last few months of the the season were thrown away in a crazy first half. Only Mills can be credited with a competent display at the back. I fail to understand how an experienced defender like Griff can give such an atrocious penalty away. There was no need for such a reckless challenge, especially at that stage of the game. Zurab was no better and looked like the nerves got to him on the big occasion, all over the place a a tad fortunate not to have seen red.

To blame the ref is futile. At the end of the first half I was a little aggitated with him as he gave us nothing, but both penalties were 'stonewall' but a harsher ref would have sent off Zurab. Some on here need someone to blame, but the ref is not that man for the objective supporter.

Well done to Swansea. By far the better team over the 90 minutes and over the season. They deserve their chance in the big time. We may have had good periods of possession, but they looked clinical up front and organized at the back in open play. Every time they went forward they looked like they would score. I think they can do Ok in the Prem.

As far as Reading are concerned, I hope this has been a valuable lesson learnt. As a fan I only hope we can keep as much of the team together as possible but fear it could be goodbye to many of the players that got us in the Playoffs. We have a huge summer coming up and the replacements for the likes of Long, Kebe and Mills are vital to our chances, but I expect McDermott to have to do it on a shoestring again. It seems pace is the key in this division, something in areas of the pitch we are somewhat lacking.

Here's to another season supporting Reading FC in the championship

[Jerry St Clair]

The stirring 20 minutes at the start of the second half made even a cynical old sod like me swell with pride. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. We had Swansea on the rack through sheer endeavour, but i felt we needed 3 goals in those 20 minutes before we'd run out of puff. And so it transpired.

When I reflect in a few days time, I think I'll look back on Wembley 2011 with much more fondness than Wembley 1995.

[Muskrat]

Leigertwood was immense.

Agreed. Immensley sh1t.

Is it just me or is everybody suffering from a case of The Emperors New Clothes with this guy. Sorry but I just don't see what he brings to the team.

For me, play Tabby in midfield and we win that game. Just a shame he got himself sent off

[Svlad Cjelli]

Leigertwood was immense.

Agreed. Immensley sh1t.

Is it just me or is everybody suffering from a case of The Emperors New Clothes with this guy. Sorry but I just don't see what he brings to the team.

For me, play Tabby in midfield and we win that game. Just a shame he got himself sent off

He breaks up the play of lesser teams, but Swansea just passed it around him.

[cmonurz]

Their only shots on goal were their goals, it wasn't pretty, but Leigertwood did a great job breaking up their play today, Swansea looked threatening pretty much only when they ran at our full-backs.

[Y21]

All we had to offer was bringing on bloody Simon Bloody Church. That is why we are in the Championship next season. We haven't got the players outside the first 11 that can change a game. Manset? Church? I don't think so. We need to stop kidding ourselves and admit that we were second best today and we need to be ruthless in the summer and move on the deadwood/never going to be wood and build a squad with a bit of depth. If by any chance, we get some money coming in from the sale of Long (hope not), Kebe (hope note), Federici (meh) etc I hope Brian gets the chance to invest well and bring in some decent quality players. We were only very good for about a 1/3 of this season which elevated us to an artificial position and gave us the false hope of the play-offs. This was proved today when we were poor and shown up by a quality team.

Yaaaa, whatever.

URRRRRRZ! Bring on August.