By CCFC Sid
October 31 2004

After two poor defeats, against table-topping Wigan and Premiership Middlesboro, second in the table Reading were the next team in line to prolong CCFC's misery - but it didn't quite happen like that! Having been treated to a seat in an executive box by one of the companys I write for (As were other members of CCFC royalty!), the blow of any potential defeat was softened from 1.30 onwards with free lager and a buffet! If you're going to watch your team lose, I can recommend this as a way to do it.

And, having finally left the place I had worked for for 19 years the day before (Due to redundancy), this was a great way to celebrate the end of an era - with victory the icing on the cake....

Our position in the ground was right behind the press area, and with a fair few of us known to local media people, there was a look of dis-belief from a few of them at seeing who was siting behind them! While we were treated to the bizarre site of one of those media people rocking backwards and forwards throughout - a la Arthur Fowler in Eastenders, just before he had his break-down....

Michael Doyle had revealed on CWR the night before that ther would be changes to the previously XI selected, and to the style of play too, and so it proved. Staunton wasn't even in the 16, Shaw and Deloumeaux were dropped to the bench, and Gudjonsson was left out too, despite doing a good few laps of the pitch around 1.50 (As did Andrew Whing, who also wasn't in the 16).

The latest in a long line of CCFC loans, Florent Laville, was in the starting line-up, as was Rohan Ricketts (Cup tied against Middlesboro), and there was a re-call for Stern John, who had been "rested" midweek. And youngster Stuart Giddings also retained his place, doing fairly well against one of the better players in the Championship in Glen Little....

Hopes of a win, after 10 matches without, looked bleak a mere two minutes into the match, with Reading missing an absolute sitter after 49 seconds, and another decent chance after a mere two minutes (Though CCFC also had a couple of close efforts in a bright opening few minutes).

Ten minutes in, and CCFC were 1-0 down, due to yet another fairly soft goal, with Owusu giving the away side the lead. CCFC didn't give supporters much time to dwell on going behind, and thoughts of another defeat, equalising from the spot minutes later. With four players surrounding him, John was doing well to hold onto the ball before Sidwell flattened him, and John scored from the spot (Sending Hahnemann the wrong way).

The rare site of Louis Carey in the opposition penalty area (Carey getting into the opposition half is rare enough!) resulted in a yellow card for the former Bristol City man after he supposedly caught the Reading keeper, though supporters seemed to think Hahnemann might just have been over-reacting slightly. He was booed throughout the match after the incident....

Plenty more half chances were created by CCFC, without ever looking like actually resulting in a goal, with John, Morrell, Hughes, and Leacock, all going fairly close - though CCFC should have been awarded another penalty towards the end of the first half, with John going down after a challenge from Hahnemann. From our vantage point it looked a fairly "stick on" decision, but, much to the disgust of CCFC supporters, nothing was given.

Following a hefty challenge on John soon after, he didn't come back out in the second half (Being replaced by Suffo).

A half-time call to the executive box we were in revealed that potential saviour Jo Dhinsa had ventured into Highfield Road, though whether or not he was in disgiuse to avoid being thrown out of the ground by the current chairman is unknown!

Rohan Rickett's had looked fairly decent on the odd occasion he was given the ball (Any extension to his loan at CCFC would be appreciated!), and in the 50th minute it was his pass to Morrell that saw CCFC take the lead, with Morrell smacking a cracking shot past the Reading keeper.

A Morrell header almost made it 3-1 soon after, and Eddy Johnson did make it 3-1 after 65 minutes, following a superb pass from Suffo. A large section of Reading supporters left the ground at this point, with some reports suggesting this was a hooligan element, who kept the police busy outside.

Yet another soft goal gave Reading hope of taking someting from this match, with the CCFC defence allowing Little's cross to be poked home by Kitson, with 20 minutes still to play.

CCFC had a two-against-one situation minutes later, and the chance to put the result beyond doubt, but a poor pass from Morrell to Doyle saw the chance wasted. The correct pass would have seen Doyle with all the time in the world to pick his spot, the wrong one meant it was still "two pairs of pants" time for the last few minutes!

The final whistle came as a welcome relief to most of the supporters in a poor attendance of 13,600+, and victory gave us a decent excuse to crack open a celebratory drink! (Before going off to the pub for another few too).

CCFC's four victories this season have come against Sunderland, Notts Forest, West Ham, and second placed Reading, all contenders at the start of the season (Though Forest currently occupy a relegation place!!) - so just why are we at the wrong end of the table? (Rhetorical question - it's because we don't have as many points as those teams above us). A relegation battle just should not be in the script....

And to those CCFC fans that think the Main Stand are silent and still throughout, wrong! They might not be quite as noisy as the West End and the East Stand, but they are far more lively than they are given credit for!