August
Newsfile

Newsfile Archive

The Royals were unbeaten before today, they had not conceeded a goal in 5 competitive games and judging from the attitude of their fans on the messageboard in the past week only had to turn up to bag another 3 points.

They had not bargained on a pumped up City side that were at them from the start, City had put the ball in the net after 8 minutes, Spencer Prior headed home at the far post only to turn and see the linesman flagging for offside. It seemed harsh. City fans did not have to wait long though. Earnie touched a free kick short to Kavanagh and his shot was knocked onto the post by the keeper but Leo reacted fastest and scored from 3 feet. 13 minutes gone and the Reading records had come to an end.

Reading equalised on 32 mins when Alex Smith scored after a Jamie Cureton shot was blocked by Neil Alexander. Smith pounced to force the ball home.

Four minutes later though Leo was at it again. Graham Kavanagh put in a corner which Spencer Prior won superbly and knocked it across for Leo to head home at the far post.

The impecibly behaved 3,000 strong City contingent went wild for the second time.

Graham Kavanagh placed a super free kick onto the post and Neil Alexander produced a fantastic save to keep the score 2 - 1 to City at half time.

It was an absolutely quality first half of football. Goals, incidents, it had it all.

The second half as you'd expect saw Reading try to come at City looking for a way back into the game but I can honestly say apart from a shot that hit the post and one easy save for Alexander Reading hardly threatened. They had a lot of possession but were poor when it came near the goal.

I should say a lot of that was because City defended well and defended bravely.

The game produced 9 yellow cards and as the clock agonisingly ticked down the inevitable red card came. It was not for a second booking though as we thought may happen it was for a cynical forearm smash by Reading skipper Parkinson on Michael Simpkins, the referee who had made some obscure decisions at times got this one dead right and produced a straight red. It was an awful challenge.

Readings hopes had just about been extinguished with the sending off, their fans departed in their droves.

City fans of course milked it, every last drop. The relief after 5 mins of injury time was incredible and as the final whistle blew a small part of South Reading errupted with 3,000 joyous Bluebirds.

The fans behaviour was brilliant, there was plenty of mixing of fans before and after the game, I saw no incidents or no flashpoints. During the game there was plenty of banter but City out sung the 10,000 Reading fans, most of which were in the East Stand.

It has been an amazing days for Cardiff City and its fans.

Just to finish off, this was posted by a Reading fan on the MB.

I must admit to feeling a little humble today.
Your away support was fantastic. I didn't think that support like that was possible from a 2nd div club. Im sure that if we had given you 6000 tickets you would have sold them all. Im looking forward to my trip to Ninian Park in December. If your away support is that good, then your home support should be something else. Good luck, im sure you wont need it, and I hope you get promoted. Behind us that is.!