Heartbreaking results

[MmmMonsterMunch]

1) Bolton

2) Walsall
3) Swansea



4) Arsenal

To echo some above, losing a play-off and the awful realisation that you're stuck in the same league for at least another season is much worse than a cup game loss IMO. Having said that to come so close to beating Arsenal and a shot at the final feels much worse than if we'd been spanked out of sight, especially because of the manner in which they scored their winner.

The irony now is that staying in this league is not an awful realisation any more. I think a lot of Reading fans would happily win the league & then start the championship campaign over again. The PL is a load of overhyped sh1te. This is why the cup is so magical.

I am just watching our goal again. I could watch that over & over & over again. The noise! I love Clarke's fist pump after as well.

[Royalcop]

The irony now is that staying in this league is not an awful realisation any more. I think a lot of Reading fans would happily win the league & then start the championship campaign over again. The PL is a load of overhyped sh1te.

Yes, that's very true; the PL is no longer the promised land as was in 95. The worst feeling in that regard was after Walsall as Div 2 was an unglamorous slog and so tough to get out of (and still is - look at Sheff U).

[genome]

I think the fact that we went 3-0 down so quickly against Swansea meant that it was easier to cope with.
.

That made it more heartbreaking for me... and to tempt us with an epic comeback and fall just short? Way more heartbreaking than only just losing to the form side in Europe.

[Franchise FC]

Bolton

Bolton

Bolton


2-0 up with a penalty and Bolton down to 10 as McAteer walks after his second yellow ... oh, wait

2-0 up until late in the game
Still 2-1 up very late in the game
If only it'd been Adie Williams that Defreitas went past - we may have finished the 90 with 10 men, but we'd have won the game
Knowing that the shattered, injured remnants of a team would be rinsed in extra time
Thinking that this would be our one and only chance

No other game comes even close as we now know that chances come and chances go, but we've shown there is a way back for another go.

And no, I've still not watched any of the footage of the Bolton game
And yes, I still hate Bolton with every waking breath


But I'm not bitter

[melonhead]

couldn't watch Bolton game again. certainly couldn't watch the Swansea game again
happily watched every minute of the semi on sunday morning.

the Fulham result the day we went down from the prem ripped my heart out a lot more tbf.

[Royal Lady]

Saturday would have been less heartbreaking if we'd lost 5-0 like many thought we would. I think to lose in the manner we did and then seeing that, if we'd won, we would have been playing Villa in the final and have a real chance of winning the FA Cup makes it all the more sadder. We'll probably never get this far in an FA Cup competition in my lifetime, whereas I do expect us to win a play off and get back in the Prem in the next 20 years!

For me, the worst one has to be Bolton - 2-0 up at half time and dreaming of playing the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd, to being crushed by full time is probably the worst I've ever felt at a football game.

[Winchester Royal]

If you look at it in a linear way, the 1995 playoff final result was a more significant at the time than the 2011 result - in 2011 we'd already had two years in the top flight but 1995 was an opportunity to achieve something new, something that it took another 11 years to achieve.

I was more gutted with the Villa QF result in 2010 than I was on Saturday. On Saturday we didn't oxf*rd anything up, we didn't have it in the bag, we had 15 minutes more to hold out to take it to penalties where we might have won, but just couldn't keep out a team made up of World Cup winners, record signings, and internationals for top teams.

Looking at what has been achieved at RFC since 1995, we've had three years in the PL, two championship winning sides, two playoff final defeats, a promotion from Division 2, two FA cup QF exits, a Semi exit, two playoff semi defeats, an 8th placed premier league finish - all in 20 years. The previous 115 years of the club's history had seen a Simod cup win, a few lower league titles and promotions, and a semi final which was played when my grandparents were still in nappies. We've done a hell of a lot in the last 20 years, and given that, I'm going to put my cards on the table here and say that in the next 10 years, we'll have competed in another FA cup semi final.

My top 5 heartbreaking results, since I started attending in 1997, are:

Birmingham final game 2009
Walsall 2001
Wolves playoff semi, 2003
Swansea 2011
Villa 2010

[Hugo Boss]

Beating Huddersfield away a couple of seasons back. Had us down to lose on a 10-fold accy. Was the only result that didn't come in.

[handbags_harris]

As I have alluded to in another thread, it is the elusivity factor that seems to be the main correlation between my most devastating football feelings. Bolton was heartbreaking for me as a 13 year old, and wins by a mile. Little old Reading in the Premier League? 2-0 lead at half time, conceding 4 to blow it.

Second for me is Villa 2010, again the elusivity, the first quarter final since 1927, and the 2-0 lead at half time. Conceding 4 to blow it.

Arsenal this weekend I'd rank third. Having pushed one of the biggest clubs and best teams in Europe and deservedly holding out for at least a draw...I just went home alone in silence afterwards. Absolute dejection.

[Sutekh]

My top 5 heartbreaking results, since I started attending in 1997, are:

Birmingham final game 2009

Forgot that one, thanks for reminding me! All in our own hands and the team couldn't/didn't bother competing. As I recall though that was fairly indicative of the dreadful home form (again!) we were turning in for the second half of that season.

[Ian Royal]

Bolton - wembley play off (in hindsight)
Walsall - Cardiff play off
Burnley - play off
Villa QF
Derby - prem relegation
Wolves - play off
Birmingham - 2009
Burnley - last year
Bolton - wembley play off (at the time)
Swansea - play off
Arsenal - semi

[Kitsondinho]

1) Walsall because we should have won and were far too good for that division at that time.

2) Bolton because it seemed like we'd never get the chance again.

3) Fulham at home in 2008. After that game I knew we'd go down.

4) Burnley 09. Horrible way to end our greatest era.

5) Villa in 2010. So close to the S/F.

I'm not even upset about Saturday. We were much better than I expected. I can't feel bad about a performance like that!

[floyd__streete]

Did anyone expect that it wouldn't end in tragi-comedy given our record in big matches?

95 play off final: Lovell missed penalty.
01 play off final: Hunter clearance hits Rougier in the head for Walsall's equaliser.
09 last game vs Birmingham, if we won we'd go up: Hahnemann lets a near post pea-roller under him.
11 play off final: we manage to concede not one but two penalties.

[tidus_mi2]

Biggest thing for me about the Swansea game was the media love-in for Scott Sinclair because he got a hat-trick, he scored 2 penalties, it's not that oxf*rd impressive!

[Angry Shed Sex]

Did anyone expect that it wouldn't end in tragi-comedy given our record in big matches?

95 play off final: Lovell missed penalty.
01 play off final: Hunter clearance hits Rougier in the head for Walsall's equaliser.
09 last game vs Birmingham, if we won we'd go up: Hahnemann lets a near post pea-roller under him.
11 play off final: we manage to concede not one but two penalties.

+1

[maffff]

Bolton

/end thread.

[melonhead]

I spent the day steadfastly not believing we would do anything in the game.
it was only at the point where I did start to believe, that we lost.

its my fault.
apols

[TBM]

Biggest thing for me about the Swansea game was the media love-in for Scott Sinclair because he got a hat-trick, he scored 2 penalties, it's not that oxf*rd impressive!

They even mentioned it yesterday when he came on...

[Handsome Man]

Biggest thing for me about the Swansea game was the media love-in for Scott Sinclair because he got a hat-trick, he scored 2 penalties, it's not that oxf*rd impressive!

#

Scoring penalties in play-off finals is of course easy and shouldn't be worth mentioning because it is automatic that you get a goal if a penalty is awarded. Well said!

[Ian Royal]

Biggest thing for me about the Swansea game was the media love-in for Scott Sinclair because he got a hat-trick, he scored 2 penalties, it's not that oxf*rd impressive!

#

Scoring penalties in play-off finals is of course easy and shouldn't be worth mentioning because it is automatic that you get a goal if a penalty is awarded. Well said!

Yet another way in which we were screwed over in 95