The week before Reading failed to defeat eight man Yeovil at the Madejski Stadium - so perhaps a 1-1 draw away against a reduced numbers Brighton is a sign of improvement. Brighton played nearly the entire second half with ten men after Greer was sent off on 51 minutes for his second booking of the game. It was a big blow for the home side who looked comfortable against Reading until that point.

Chris Gunter's own goal gave Brighton the lead after 17 minutes, and it was a lead they easily held until half time. After the break the sending off gave Reading an opportunity to rescue some points - and they did save one when Drenthe scored his first goal of the season on 64 minutes with a low shot inside the box. Both sides then had chances to snatch victory with McAnuff forcing a save before McCarthy had to be on form to save in injury time to prevent a late defeat.

Strangely after picking up just two points from a possible nine, the Royals find themselves temporarily back in the play-off positions. However both Wigan and Brighton have games in hand and it seems only a matter of time before Reading find themselves heading down the table.

Dreadful first half. Would have been 0-0 but for McCarthys clanger. Thats two now, although he did make a brilliant and his only save of the game on about 90 minutes. Second half was all Reading and the fact that there keeper got MOM tells you everything. If only we had a decent striker (ALF pretty poor again today)

The sending off was on the far side and I couldn't see it clearly. As much as I dont like to see it, it was our players getting at the ref which got theirs sent off :shock: We all thought it was ALF that got fouled for the red card but the fact that they spent the rest of the game booing Royston it may have been him that was fouled :oops:

Anyway from that point on it was all us. Obita had a much better game. Drenthe caused them all sorts of problems. McCarthy and Hector almost fkkd up at one point, but Hector went on to give a very assured performance. Jobi missed a one on one Grrrrr.

Referee was dreadful and falling for their diving and time wasting. Overall much better than last week but two points dropped AGAIN!
SHORT AND CURLY

The defensive f*ck up summarised the season quite nicely tbh. We'd started well, controlled possession, looked really quite assured, and then we hand the opposition a goal that knocks the stuffing out of us for the rest of the first half. All. Too. Familiar.

I would like to emphasise my previous comments about Hector. The guy is a class act. I really do think he can go on to be one of the best in the country. NEED to get him signed up. The ease with which he brings the ball out of defence is really something to see close up. A number of times our attacks started with him playing a tricky ball into midfield that the likes of Pearce wouldn't dream of playing. His defending wasn't at all shabby either, though his yellow card in the first half made him a little jittery at times in the second.
winchester_royal

Suspicions were voiced at the Amex Stadium that Reading's players had tried to get an opponent sent off, but such is their recent record of playing against reduced-strength teams that they might be better advised in future to try to persuade referees to let opponents stay on.

A week after failing to beat a Yeovil team that finished a 1-1 draw at the Madejski Stadium with eight players, Reading had to settle for a point again against a Brighton side down to ten men for most of the second half following the dismissal of their captain and central defender Gordon Greer for a second yellow card. "Sometimes it is challenging against teams who pull everyone into the six-yard box," Reading manager Nigel Adkins sighed. "But it is frustrating not to capitalise."

Frustration, though, must be the natural state for fans of both these teams. The point still took Reading above Wigan into sixth place on goal difference, but this was an opportunity missed by Adkins's inconsistent side against another team with play-off ambitions.
The Guardian

Reading manager Nigel Adkins:
"We gave away a poor goal, but we re-grouped and came very strongly in the second half. Brighton play some good football; I enjoy watching them play and coming from behind is pleasing after the week we've had with players on international duty. The squad has stepped up and done very well. We're in the mix and have some good players in the club who want to do well."
BBC Sport