Thumped, humiliated.. Whatever you want to call it


By Matthew Grant
February 9 2004

Reading were brushed aside by lowly Rotherham United and yet again produced a poor performance. Ex Royal Martin Butler won a penalty and then scored one as Rotherham hit five past the Royals. New Page 1 New Page 1 New Page 1 Yearly review

Match Report: Rotherham 5:1 Reading
Royals crashed to a disastrous result which set back there chances of a Play-Off place. Steve Coppell started with the same team which beat Derby County last Saturday 3:1. Dave Kitson made an appearance on the Royals bench after coming back from injury. Lined up against the Royals for the first time was Martin Butler who joined the Millers for £150,000 at the back end of August. Rotherham were also sporting new signing Michael Proctor who joined just in time to play. He was part of a deal which saw Darren Byfield go in the opposite direction to Sunderland.

Reading started well with both forwards, Goater and Owusu winning the ball in the air and causing the Rotherham defence a few problems and it took a powerful run from Lloyd Owusu to win Reading the penalty which opened the scoring. Shaun Goater took it and buried it in the bottom corner. 

It all looked so rosy for the Royals but how wrong they were to be. Not long after Reading took the lead Rotherham were back in it. A long ball up field to Martin Butler found Rotherham's number nine but he was awarded a penalty after Adrian Williams was accused of pushing him over. There seemed to be little contact but Williams nudge on Butler was enough for the referee to point to the spot. New signing Michael Proctor stepped up and he slotted the ball home to level the scores.

Both teams had chances to regain the lead with Goater having Reading's best opportunities but was unable to finish off the moves. Just before half time Rotherham took the lead. A corner which was half cleared to the foot of Andy Monkhouse who hit a sweet shot into the corner which Hahnemann could not keep out. Conceding just before half time proved to be a big turning point in the game.

Half Time: Rotherham United 2:1 Reading

Into the second half and things did not improve for Reading as they conceded a third on the 47th minute. Very poor defending from Nicky Shorey saw the ball crossed into Butler who tucked the ball home from six yards and in the process score his 11th goal of this campaign and score against his former club as well.

Reading were starting to look a bit ragged but nearly pulled one goal back when a good run and shot from John Salako, was tipped over by Rotherham's goalkeeper. That was as good as it was going to get for the Royals though as Rotherham pilled on the misery for the Royals fans who had travelled a long while to watch it.

Scott Murray was brought on in place of the ineffective Andy Hughes and later on Steve Brown was take off with Ricky Newman replacing him. Rotherham's fourth was yet again down to poor marking which saw Michael Proctor grab his second of the game. Hahnemann was helpless as Proctor got in to head past the big American. It was now going past a joke as Reading fans headed for the exit doors. 

Butler then was subbed in the dying minutes to be replaced by Ritchie Barker who managed to grab a goal. In the 90th minute Barker managed to stay onside, he ran through took the ball round Hahnemann and his shot creped in to the corner of the net though Williams tried hard to keep it out.

A more then embarrassing result for the Royals who will have to improve quickly to stay with the Play-Off pack. Though it was another good result for an ever improving Rotherham side. 

Full Time: Rotherham United 5:1 Reading

Man Of The Match: Goater for his goal, nothing else was good by any of the players to deserve it!

Ref Watch: Was not comfortable and made some rash decisions. Though not much different from most referees in this division.

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