Reading FC Match Report: 2025/2026 Season - League One
BARNSLEY 3 READING 2
Reading: J Marriott (35), D Kyerewaa (66)
Barnsley: J Earl (9), D Keillor-Dunn (55), A Phillips (pen 59)
Post Match Fans' Opinion
WestYorksRoyal
I'm going to make a prediction that may haunt me. I think Hunt and the team will come good this season. By that I mean top half and playing football by April that gets us excited for 26/27. Not play offs.
As for today, Barnsley are a quality L1 side. They have had a stable core of good players for a few years and added quality like Vickers and McGoldrick. They will be pushing for promotion, and this was one of the worst fixtures we could have had after our first win of the season, which is why the Northampton postponement is frustrating.
First 30 or so were abysmal. If we play like that too often then relegation is a genuine threat. And we conceded from another set piece, which is becoming far too frequent. O'Connor can't come back fast enough.
But then Pereira did his timeout injury trick, Marriot scored out of nothing shortly afterwards and from that point on we matched them. Elliott played well, Kyerewaa was dangerous and we were better at getting the ball up the pitch on the deck. Marriot made a big difference, scrapping for possession and finding pockets of space for us to find and build attacks.
Unfortunately McGoldrick had Ahmed for breakfast today; he didn't know where he was or how to respond to his movement, and 2 goals in 5 minutes came from that which killed the game. It's reminiscent of Rhodes and Bindon a couple of years ago, and hopefully Ahmed reacts the same way as he is high potential.
But even after that, we were in the game. Kyerewaa's goal was well worked, and we had other half chances for Marriot, Savage, Wing's FK and the goalmouth chance for Wing/Kyerewaa where it was a goal if the ball dropped for us.
And that's what makes me more positive. We scored two and could have had more, while at the back we're simply begging for O'Connor to get fit and shore things up alongside Williams who had another great game.
Next week against Orient is big. They're a decent top half side, but not as good as Barnsley. We need to start picking up points at home to turn this around.
Last word on the fans at the game. I don't get to many games, but today suggests the toxicity you see on Twitter is also on the terraces; a sizeable minority are dickheads. The team did not deserve to be booed today, and if you can't handle losing maybe think of a better use of your Saturday than travelling the country. And there were even Tommy Robinson chants.
I think there is a lot of emotion around at the moment. 2 years ago we were preaching patience and dealing with bad results, that team ultimately got its rewards but here we are back in the same place 2 years later. That ultimately comes back to Dai. If the takeover completed like it should have last summer, it would not be like this. We would have offered contracts last season and been well ahead in our planning and budgeting for the summer transfer window. It seems like the fanbase right now is just a bit drained and doesn't have the energy to be patient again. The Dai years were mostly dire, but we had 18 good months on the pitch at the end. It's really shit to be back in the "be patient" phase again.
As for today, Barnsley are a quality L1 side. They have had a stable core of good players for a few years and added quality like Vickers and McGoldrick. They will be pushing for promotion, and this was one of the worst fixtures we could have had after our first win of the season, which is why the Northampton postponement is frustrating.
First 30 or so were abysmal. If we play like that too often then relegation is a genuine threat. And we conceded from another set piece, which is becoming far too frequent. O'Connor can't come back fast enough.
But then Pereira did his timeout injury trick, Marriot scored out of nothing shortly afterwards and from that point on we matched them. Elliott played well, Kyerewaa was dangerous and we were better at getting the ball up the pitch on the deck. Marriot made a big difference, scrapping for possession and finding pockets of space for us to find and build attacks.
Unfortunately McGoldrick had Ahmed for breakfast today; he didn't know where he was or how to respond to his movement, and 2 goals in 5 minutes came from that which killed the game. It's reminiscent of Rhodes and Bindon a couple of years ago, and hopefully Ahmed reacts the same way as he is high potential.
But even after that, we were in the game. Kyerewaa's goal was well worked, and we had other half chances for Marriot, Savage, Wing's FK and the goalmouth chance for Wing/Kyerewaa where it was a goal if the ball dropped for us.
And that's what makes me more positive. We scored two and could have had more, while at the back we're simply begging for O'Connor to get fit and shore things up alongside Williams who had another great game.
Next week against Orient is big. They're a decent top half side, but not as good as Barnsley. We need to start picking up points at home to turn this around.
Last word on the fans at the game. I don't get to many games, but today suggests the toxicity you see on Twitter is also on the terraces; a sizeable minority are dickheads. The team did not deserve to be booed today, and if you can't handle losing maybe think of a better use of your Saturday than travelling the country. And there were even Tommy Robinson chants.
I think there is a lot of emotion around at the moment. 2 years ago we were preaching patience and dealing with bad results, that team ultimately got its rewards but here we are back in the same place 2 years later. That ultimately comes back to Dai. If the takeover completed like it should have last summer, it would not be like this. We would have offered contracts last season and been well ahead in our planning and budgeting for the summer transfer window. It seems like the fanbase right now is just a bit drained and doesn't have the energy to be patient again. The Dai years were mostly dire, but we had 18 good months on the pitch at the end. It's really shit to be back in the "be patient" phase again.
Brogue
The reason why so many of us expected a top six finish* is because that’s what we were told we were aiming for. And the message hasn’t changed the new investor in his interview just this week saying playoffs minimum. What do you expect fans to think when our owners are saying playoffs and here we are 21st in the league 5 points from 21. And even if we didn’t believe their lies. WE ARE 21st IN THE LEAGUE AFTER 7 GAMES.
*Don't think anyone expected top six finish but a play off challenge definitely
Hound
We’ve got better players than bottom
4 of the division. And we’re just not getting the best out of them for whatever reason
Maybe we are slowly building something behind the scenes and will get better and stronger as we go, but I’m yet to see much that convinces me this is the case
International break certainly didn’t help. Hopefully we can beat Orient and push on again. I just don’t think from what I’ve seen over the last year Hunt will take us forward. Would love to be proved wrong, just not seeing the progress
4 of the division. And we’re just not getting the best out of them for whatever reason
Maybe we are slowly building something behind the scenes and will get better and stronger as we go, but I’m yet to see much that convinces me this is the case
International break certainly didn’t help. Hopefully we can beat Orient and push on again. I just don’t think from what I’ve seen over the last year Hunt will take us forward. Would love to be proved wrong, just not seeing the progress
Linden Jones' Tash
The reason why so many of us expected a top six finish* is because that’s what we were told we were aiming for. And the message hasn’t changed the new investor in his interview just this week saying playoffs minimum. What do you expect fans to think when our owners are saying playoffs and here we are 21st in the league 5 points from 21. And even if we didn’t believe their lies. WE ARE 21st IN THE LEAGUE AFTER 7 GAMES.
*Don't think anyone expected top six finish but a play off challenge definitely
+ 1
The Board are repeatedly stating that the objective this season is the playoffs...
Why are people pretending that anything less is OK...
Gunny Fishcake
The reason why so many of us expected a top six finish* is because that’s what we were told we were aiming for. And the message hasn’t changed the new investor in his interview just this week saying playoffs minimum. What do you expect fans to think when our owners are saying playoffs and here we are 21st in the league 5 points from 21. And even if we didn’t believe their lies. WE ARE 21st IN THE LEAGUE AFTER 7 GAMES.
*Don't think anyone expected top six finish but a play off challenge definitely
+ 1
The Board are repeatedly stating that the objective this season is the playoffs...
Why are people pretending that anything less is OK...
+2
WestYorksRoyal
The reason why so many of us expected a top six finish* is because that’s what we were told we were aiming for. And the message hasn’t changed the new investor in his interview just this week saying playoffs minimum. What do you expect fans to think when our owners are saying playoffs and here we are 21st in the league 5 points from 21. And even if we didn’t believe their lies. WE ARE 21st IN THE LEAGUE AFTER 7 GAMES.
*Don't think anyone expected top six finish but a play off challenge definitely
+ 1
The Board are repeatedly stating that the objective this season is the playoffs...
Why are people pretending that anything less is OK...
Because what are our options? They own the club and will leave when they choose. What do you expect to do? Protest against this lot because they set expectations too high?
Or acknowledge that promotion takes a few years to build and they inherited a club with broken finances and 5 contracted players. I have no idea why they are talking about the top 6 when it was never realistic, but when you look at the substance of what they're doing on and off the pitch you can see the plan to turn us around. And the time to judge would be after 3 years, not 3 months.
Linden Jones' Tash
Reading Fans:
"we want a Club that communicates!"
Also
Reading Fans:
"we will ignore what the Club's higher uppers say repeatedly"...
Which is good because it means the Club can say everything and nothing at all...
2 weeks ago:
"We will look at Free agents!"
This week:
"We never looked at Free agents!..."
"we want a Club that communicates!"
Also
Reading Fans:
"we will ignore what the Club's higher uppers say repeatedly"...
Which is good because it means the Club can say everything and nothing at all...
2 weeks ago:
"We will look at Free agents!"
This week:
"We never looked at Free agents!..."
Brogue
+ 1
The Board are repeatedly stating that the objective this season is the playoffs...
Why are people pretending that anything less is OK...
Because what are our options? They own the club and will leave when they choose. What do you expect to do? Protest against this lot because they set expectations too high?
Or acknowledge that promotion takes a few years to build and they inherited a club with broken finances and 5 contracted players. I have no idea why they are talking about the top 6 when it was never realistic, but when you look at the substance of what they're doing on and off the pitch you can see the plan to turn us around. And the time to judge would be after 3 years, not 3 months.
Look, the so called ‘less dramatic’ on here (or the naive and foolish as I like to call them) have repeatedly said, don’t believe what the owners said, it was all just hype to sell the tickets blah blah blah. Fine. Sneaky fcukers but fine. Well it isn’t, but whatever. Business is business.
But don’t then get a new investor in, put him in front of the cameras to broadcast to an already unhappy and on edge fan base saying we are going for the playoffs as a MINIMUM this season.
What happens? we lose the next game, 1 win in 7.
5 points from a possible 21
Sit in the relegation zone.
And then when fans have the audacity to say this is fcuking shit, hunt out, the owners are Charlatans!! they get called bedwetters and dramatic.
No,it doesn’t work like that.
The new investor who came in had the perfect opportunity to dampen expectations when asked what are your expectations for the season. He didn’t, he jumped on the hype train again, he doubled down. The club really doesn’t help itself. And the fans have every right to be pissed off because it’s just lie after lie after lie. You’d think they would have read the fcuking room when they took over, last thing we needed was more deceit.
andrew1957
And so what some of you are saying is that the new owners raised expectations too high, didn’t deliver enough good players to achieve those expectations and so we should punish the manager, who has not been supported sufficiently, by sacking him. I guess that all makes perfect sense.
For me if Hunt is sacked any time soon, I actually hope it backfires and the club are relegated. Would serve the owners and the faithless fans right.
For me if Hunt is sacked any time soon, I actually hope it backfires and the club are relegated. Would serve the owners and the faithless fans right.
Brogue
No, we are saying hunt should be sacked because he’s shit.
Do you genuinely believe our squad is stronger this year than last year?
It’s stronger than 5 points from 21, 1 win in 7 and 21st in the league. I don’t give a shit about the playoffs. I never thought we’d be close to em. But we are genuinely in a relegation battle with a top half team. That’s on the manager. It also doesn’t help that we’ve been dog shit in every game we’ve played. Not only are we not getting the results, the performances are not there either.
morganb
No, we are saying hunt should be sacked because he’s shit.
Do you genuinely believe our squad is stronger this year than last year?
Comparison to last year isn't really that important.
The question should be:
Do you think our squad is stronger than the 7 teams we've already played in the League and if so why have our results been so poor - that's when you can legitimately start to blame the manager
Ascotexgunner
[*] lol
No, we are saying hunt should be sacked because he’s shit.
Do you genuinely believe our squad is stronger this year than last year?
This squad certainly isn't a 1 win in 7 squad. its not just about results either. The football is dire....tippy happy....break...charge towards goal....get to the 18 yard box......then work the ball back 80 yards to the keeper.
The players confidence seems drained going forward. If we were losing and playing well I wouldn't mind.
No, we are saying hunt should be sacked because he’s shit.
Do you genuinely believe our squad is stronger this year than last year?
This squad certainly isn't a 1 win in 7 squad. its not just about results either. The football is dire....tippy happy....break...charge towards goal....get to the 18 yard box......then work the ball back 80 yards to the keeper.
The players confidence seems drained going forward. If we were losing and playing well I wouldn't mind.
WestYorksRoyal
What I will say is, without results improving in the next 3 games, surely Couhig and JJ will need to front up and talk about the bad start. If we're on 7 or 8 points from 10, there's no dressing that up or spinning it.
Even if they have faith in Hunt, they would need to address the topic otherwise they're making a mockery of their promise on "transparency".
Even if they have faith in Hunt, they would need to address the topic otherwise they're making a mockery of their promise on "transparency".
PieEater
I think that is the crux, we have a good team, a good squad but the results and football is generally dire. You have to lay that at the managers door. I'm of the view that he's following El Jeffe's plan and slugging out games with the same team and the same formation until eventually it comes good. As nice a guy as he is, I really don't rate Hunt. Ask yourself if he was sacked - who else would employ him as their manager?
Ascotexgunner
I think that is the crux, we have a good team, a good squad but the results and football is generally dire. You have to lay that at the managers door. I'm of the view that he's following El Jeffe's plan and slugging out games with the same team and the same formation until eventually it comes good. As nice a guy as he is, I really don't rate Hunt. Ask yourself if he was sacked - who else would employ him as their manager?
I sincerely hope he isn't following Selles plan......Judging by Friday night Selles managerial career is over, finished, Kaput! Just 9 months and 2 jobs having left us.
donh99
+ 1
The Board are repeatedly stating that the objective this season is the playoffs...
Why are people pretending that anything less is OK...
Because what are our options? They own the club and will leave when they choose. What do you expect to do? Protest against this lot because they set expectations too high?
Or acknowledge that promotion takes a few years to build and they inherited a club with broken finances and 5 contracted players. I have no idea why they are talking about the top 6 when it was never realistic, but when you look at the substance of what they're doing on and off the pitch you can see the plan to turn us around. And the time to judge would be after 3 years, not 3 months.
+1
WestYorksRoyal
I think that is the crux, we have a good team, a good squad but the results and football is generally dire. You have to lay that at the managers door. I'm of the view that he's following El Jeffe's plan and slugging out games with the same team and the same formation until eventually it comes good. As nice a guy as he is, I really don't rate Hunt. Ask yourself if he was sacked - who else would employ him as their manager?
The difference from the Selles situation should be options. We were such a basket case then, nobody would join us. Add in the cost of sacking and Selles was always going to stay.
The owners can sack Hunt if they want, it's just a matter of cost. And I've no doubt we could poach a high potential coach from lower L1 or L2. I think Orient are progressing enough that Wellens is out of reach, but Darren Moore has done a decent job at Vale, or maybe Grant McCann who led Doncaster to the L2 title and has had a fine start this season.
Esteban
If we'd been unlucky in games, created loads of chances, had lots of long term injuries to key players, not conceded many goals or chances, etc, maybe you could understand. But that’s not the case here.
We aren't creating great chances, nearly all of our goals have been from outside the box, we aren't keeping clean sheets and we don't look like a side that’s going to on the front foot throughout games, as Hunt keeps saying. The stats don't lie and results are poor. We can't rely on scoring 3 or 4 every game to win.
The squad is better than 21st in the league. Everyone has their own opinion on the squad, but I think there's only 3 players from last season, who are better than their replacements.
I'm a massive Noel Hunt fan and I really want him to succeed, but he's under huge pressure now. If nothing improves by the next international break, then he can have no complaints if the board make a change. I really hope he can turn it round.
We aren't creating great chances, nearly all of our goals have been from outside the box, we aren't keeping clean sheets and we don't look like a side that’s going to on the front foot throughout games, as Hunt keeps saying. The stats don't lie and results are poor. We can't rely on scoring 3 or 4 every game to win.
The squad is better than 21st in the league. Everyone has their own opinion on the squad, but I think there's only 3 players from last season, who are better than their replacements.
I'm a massive Noel Hunt fan and I really want him to succeed, but he's under huge pressure now. If nothing improves by the next international break, then he can have no complaints if the board make a change. I really hope he can turn it round.
Royal_jimmy
Our problem really isn't quality. Last season proves that, ok we don't have the same calibre of centre backs but we're arguably stronger in other areas of the pitch and there's no way we're a relegation threatened side. We're miles better quality wise, it's clear management and coaching is the problem.
This League One game took place 4 days ago in the 2025/2026 season.