Preston set the tone as they went out to attack and from the first minute were camped in the Reading half. It was Ricardo Fuller who was causing Reading the most problems with his close control and shots.

Reading were left to try and counter attack playing with the 4-5-1 formation tat worked very well for the Royals in the last campaign. Preston so nearly scored though when Fuller rattled the Reading cross bar, there were calls from the Preston players that the ball had gone over the line but the Referee said no.

Though surprisingly it took Preston till the 36th minute when a goal by David Healy after some neat play from the Preston forward. It was yet another game where Reading were unable to keep a clean sheer and highlighted the defencive problem the team has at current. Hopefully the proposed signing of Darren Powell will be sorted out in the comin weeks to help sort out the problem at current.

Half Time: Preston 1:0 Reading

The second half could not have got to off to a worse start as Lloyd Owusu apparently made a two football lunge on Tyrone Mears which ended up with Owusu receiving a straight red. After the red card was shown Mears appeared to get straight up unhurt, which makes Owusu red card rather harsh. Though the mood the ref was in you didn't know what he was going to do. Yet another game where Reading have had to put with poor officials, what do we have to do to get someone decent for once? 

It made Reading's task even harder and Preston went out to try and kill off the game coming close on a number of occasions through Fuller again. Coppell bought on Kitson to play as the loan striker but had little luck as he came up against four Preston defenders with little support. 

Later in the game Brooker was replaced by Salako who made a massive impact as you got Reading back in the game. It all came from a good Hughes cross then a clever header by Kitson down to Salako who had an easy finish to get Reading on level term which was not expected.

It looked like Reading would get a point but yet again Reading could not keep a lead and so a sloppy goal gave Preston all three points and left Reading fans with that same feeling that we yet again blew the chance to get in the play-off's. Hahnemann dropped the ball from when trying to claim a cross and it left a simple tap in. Reading yet again blew the chance of going in to the Play-Off's, how many more chances do they want because they will run out sooner then later.

Full time: Preston 2:1 Reading

Man Of The Match: Salako came on and did well getting in crosses and scoring a goal that looked like the Royals would get a point.

Ref Watch: How bad can they get? Poor decisions and could not keep up with play.

Next League Game

Crystal Palace vs Reading

Selhurst Park, 6th March, 3:00PM Kick-off