Reading kicked off the new season with a trip to Stoke City with a much depleted squad, and were perhaps unfortunate to come away with no points.
The summer has seen Reading make no new signings due to transfer restrictions; and the departure of Olise, Aluko, Walker, Smith, Richards, and Baldock. On top of that Semedo and Esteves also left the club after finishing their loan spells with the Royals. Reading's squad is thin to say the least and it leaves a very difficult job ahead for the manager.
The Royals stepped out in their smart new Simod Cup winning style away kit but could only name five substitutes out of the allowed seven. Ethan Bristow and Femi Azeez stepped into the starting eleven to make their first Championship starts for Reading and could be proud of their efforts as Reading kicked-off their first league game in front of travelling fans for a very long time. The crowd of just over 19,000 were treated to a good game of football but Reading will be disappointed not to take a point after being 2-2 with five minutes left to play.
The game came to life after 25 minutes when three goals in three minutes saw Reading go a goal behind. Stoke went ahead only to see John Swift equalise after making the most of a defensive mistake. Reading goalkeeper Rafeal failed to make a save, jumping over the ball when he really should have done better for Stoke to immediately restore their lead.
In the second half Swift's corner from the right was met with a superb Liam Moore header to draw Reading level with half an hour left to play. Reading looked like they might hold out but the vital goal came on 85 minutes. The home side made a controversial fourth sub as the game entered the last minutes and then held out for the win. There were positives to take as Reading found the net twice and nearly drew on the road but it feels like a point dropped.
New Season Kicks-Off With Defeat At Stoke
From the Discussion
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SU Sutekh 2 Aug 2021 · 6:04pm
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4ktOVJuFRIo/SpkrP8Y0bGI/AAAAAAAABfw/DI8BZ-bd12A/s400/stoke-city-football-club-logo-300x247.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Reading_FC.svg/200px-Reading_FC.svg.png When : Saturday 7th August 2021, 3pm Where : Bet365 Stadium, Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke On Trent, ST4 4EG Capacity : 30,089 Another season is upon us and for the first game (or at least the first minutes of the first game) we can all dream that Reading will get through the whole league season unbeaten and without conceding a goal (though knowing Reading’s luck, if they ever managed it, it would be by the way of 46 0-0…
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NA NathStPaul 2 Aug 2021 · 6:07pm
Matthew DonoWHO more like!
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TR The Royal Forester 2 Aug 2021 · 6:33pm
Are you sure you will be able to use Ifollow? I thought the club announced that they were doing their own version, but the how to join information has been lacking. Has the away shirt been revealed yet? Or do we have to wait until 3pm Saturday to see it for the first time?
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FR Franconian Royal 2 Aug 2021 · 6:52pm
Just want to ask a question: on the OS, it looks like you can buy a pass for the season, but only for audio. Will there be an opportunity to get to watch the games? Many thanks in advance for your answers
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SC SCIAG 2 Aug 2021 · 8:11pm
Are you sure you will be able to use Ifollow? I thought the club announced that they were doing their own version, but the how to join information has been lacking. Has the away shirt been revealed yet? Or do we have to wait until 3pm Saturday to see it for the first time? We will not be seeing our away shirt. Our away kit is going to be an invisibility cloak because of the psychological advantage it will give us over our opponents.
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HO Hound 2 Aug 2021 · 9:44pm
Yay matchwatch is back No Away kit is a weird one, maybe we’ll just wear the red with the new sponsor on.
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LI linkenholtroyal 2 Aug 2021 · 10:04pm
Are you sure you will be able to use Ifollow? I thought the club announced that they were doing their own version, but the how to join information has been lacking. Has the away shirt been revealed yet? Or do we have to wait until 3pm Saturday to see it for the first time? We will not be seeing our away shirt. Our away kit is going to be an invisibility cloak because of the psychological advantage it will give us over our opponents. I like the idea of something that is painful to look at like one of those moving but not moving spirals. Break the oppositions brains.
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MO morganb 2 Aug 2021 · 10:06pm
Yay matchwatch is back No Away kit is a weird one, maybe we’ll just wear the red with the new sponsor on. Due to FFP, just like for player transfers, are we now only allowed loan away kits? Will we simply borrow the away kit from the team we are playing? What is Stoke's away strip like?