40 years ago today...

[Ark Royal]

Sat, 21st December 1985

Reading (0) 4 Horrix (65, pen), Senior (79, 80), Bremner (83)
Plymouth Argyle (2) 3 Hodges (10), S. Cooper (44, pen), Clayton (49)

Reading: Westwood, Peters, Bailie, Beavon, Hicks, Wood, Rogers, Horrix, Senior, Bremner, Gilkes (Burvill 51)
Plymouth Argyle: Crudgington, Nisbet (red card, 89), L. Cooper, Goodyear, McElhinney, Summerfield, Hodges, Coughlin, S. Cooper, Clayton, Nelson.

Att: 8,512

Still remains the most astonishing Reading game I have ever witnessed. Plymouth in second, arrived on a fourteen-match unbeaten run and were by far and away the best side we faced that season. They blew us away for an hour, went three up, and yet when 'Mad Max' Kevin Bremner switched up front, it turned into the Alamo and we totally overwhelmed them. Utterly bonkers and memorable.

[South Coast Royal]

Sat, 21st December 1985

Reading (0) 4 Horrix (65, pen), Senior (79, 80), Bremner (83)
Plymouth Argyle (2) 3 Hodges (10), S. Cooper (44, pen), Clayton (49)

Reading: Westwood, Peters, Bailie, Beavon, Hicks, Wood, Rogers, Horrix, Senior, Bremner, Gilkes (Burvill 51)
Plymouth Argyle: Crudgington, Nisbet (red card, 89), L. Cooper, Goodyear, McElhinney, Summerfield, Hodges, Coughlin, S. Cooper, Clayton, Nelson.

Att: 8,512

Still remains the most astonishing Reading game I have ever witnessed. Plymouth in second, arrived on a fourteen-match unbeaten run and were by far and away the best side we faced that season. They blew us away for an hour, went three up, and yet when 'Mad Max' Kevin Bremner switched up front, it turned into the Alamo and we totally overwhelmed them. Utterly bonkers and memorable.

An iconic game that I missed.
Had played in a parents v boys match in the morning and driven up from Ringwood to my mum's in Tilehurst to do the usual exchange of Christmas presents.

I developed a migraine and ended up in a very dark bedroom at mum's and my son went in on the bus on his own.
Luckily (I had taken some migraleve on the journey up) by the time Ian returned the pain had gone off a bit (a few more hours there and more tablets) and he was full of it about how we looked like being thrashed but super Kevin Bremner came to the rescue.
It doesn't quite feel like yesterday but the day remains in the memory even if the game doesn't for me.

[traff]

Wonderful day. There were certainly not 8500 still there at the end . South Bank felt half empty although obviously more packed towards the Tilehurst end. Has to be my favourite match ever

[Sutekh]

Glenn Burvil’s best ever contribution to a game as it turned out. He came on at 3-0 down

[Ark Royal]

Wonderful day. There were certainly not 8500 still there at the end . South Bank felt half empty although obviously more packed towards the Tilehurst end. Has to be my favourite match ever

Stood on the Tilehurst that day and several left when it went to 0-3. They must have been gutted when they saw the final score.

[Millsy]

3-0 down to come back to win 4-3!? Bloody hell!

[Sutekh]

Almost went, said to myself I’d go on 80 but at about that time Senior hit 2 in a minute so had to stay just in case they got a winner. The sending off was a bonus too! If only the FL had agreed TV terms by then

[From Despair To Where?]

Remember the atmosphere more than the game itself. We were utter garbage for 60 minutes but the atmosphere turned when we got the penalty. When we made it 3-1 there was a collective sense of "we can win this". We absolutely battered them for 15 minutes and when we got the second Plymouth just fell apart.

I remember the sending off more vividly than the goals. Senior was ambling towards the corner flag with the ball and the defender just steamed in and scythed him down. Dreadful challenge but his head had clearly gone.

We played quite agricultural football but Beavon, Bremner and Horrix were all decent players. I guess the one thing that really stood out was that even Horrix, who was probably the most lightweight player in the squad could still put himself about and was hard as nails. I guess Gilkes wasn't the most physical player at that age but you'd just knock the ball over the top and he'd murder anyone for pace.

And then we signed Terry Hurlock in January......

[Dirk Gently]

Remember it well. Seems a lifetime away from today's game in so many ways.

Most vivid memory was some bloke behind me on the South Bank loudly announcing to all and sundry "I'm off - they're not going to get anything out of this" and leaving in a huff. That was just after the second goal went in.

I wonder when he heard about what he missed - and whether he admits it.

[grey_squirrel]

I have reminisced about this game a thousand times and posted on her several times about it. It never gets boring.

I would say there was 10,000 in the ground possibly more. The Southbank was packed. Plymouth took the Town End capacity of 3,000 without a doubt.

Other memories of the day. Plymouth fans singing “jingle bells” all throughout the first half and silent in the 2nd. Plymouth hitting the crossbar early in the 2nd, which would have made it 4-0. A very old gentlemen in the Southbank swinging his walking stick like a man possessed at the Plymouth fans after our fourth. Drinking a pint per player in celebration later in the evening down the local. National TV sports coverage ignoring reference to us as “we were already up” and focusing on the chasing pack, being 21 points clear of second place IIRC.

How time scarily flies. 40 years! Halcyon days indeed.