Ok, so as we’re forever being told by the opposition we’ve never won f*ck all - a marvellous example of the double negative in action - but we’ve had some great cup nights over the years. Indulge me to delve into my own personal memory banks to get us in the mood.

93/94, Premiership Man City edged a Carling Cup tie in teeming Elm Park rain but boy didn’t they know they’d been in a game. This was a great Reading side en route to the Division 2 title and nearly two successive promotions. City took the lead against the run of play about half time, but we kept going and Quinny headed us level from all of 2 centimetres. A split-second of joy was replaced by unfamiliar terror as my feet went from under me – my first experience of a good old fashioned crowd surge! Ultimately Adie Williams went off injured and his marker Niall Quinn looped a late headed winner over Shaka. Gutted, but good times were around the corner.

95/96, Southampton and my first experience of seeing Reading dump a top flight team out of the cup – and to do it against those Meridian and South Today darlings of The Dell was even sweeter. A Wembley-esque Nogan strike, Trevor Morley’s iron head, 90 minutes of never-play-for-England-you’ve-got-a-f*cking-big-nose abuse for Matthew Le Tissier and better still a vocal Saints fan on the Southbank got some real stick which to be fair he took in good spirit. Beautiful.

97/98 as a season was sh*tter than a My Family Christmas special, but we did ok in the cups. Dances with Wolves in the Carling Cup, surely the best minute of football ever seen – Adie Williams remembers his roots with an own goal par excellence and within sixty seconds Parky shoves Ray Houghton off the ball and has a dig from twenty five yards. Unusually it flies in. Boro and the Butcher of Bootle cheat us in the Quarters and the Southbank bays for blood but we’re somewhat more sheepish a few weeks later as we edge out third division Cardiff on penalties as our charming welsh visitors take defeat in their usual graceless fashion by attempting to demolish Elm Park several weeks ahead of schedule.

The MadStad, truth be told, has held less happy cup memories but we’ve had West Ham knocked out on penalties, Bas Savage’s finest hour and a half vs Chelsea and of course that WBA comeback last season. Much like EP, the MadStad tends to be a bit more lively for evening games; imho the best atmosphere this season at home has been Man City on a Monday night way back in September. So let’s enjoy tomorrow for what it is – a home cup tie against the best team in the country – and give it some of the old style Southbank atmosphere. Perhaps even leave off the Ronaldo-baiting for one night, eh ? Anyone who doesn’t go into work on Wednesday morning hoarse is a cissy.

Labels: Reading

Caversham Road bus lane by 2010 - A new bus lane (for bikes as well hopefully) on one of the main routes into Reading could be on the cards as part of a bid to tackle congestion. Reading transport bosses are hoping to turn one lane in Caversham Road from Caversham Bridge to the Vastern Road roundabout into a bus-only route by 2010. The plan follows a public consultation as part of the North Area Access Study, which suggested more than 80 per cent of people believed Caversham had traffic and environmental problems.
The project could also include park and ride schemes in the A4155 Henley Road, the A4074 Upper Woodcote Road and the B481 Peppard Road, and in the long term a third Thames bridge crossing.
Other measures proposed include redesigning the Caversham Road and Richfield Avenue junction and improving pedestrian crossings in Caversham Park Village and by the shopping precinct in Emmer Green’s Peppard Road.
The bus lane in Caversham Road could be implemented as early as next year and would tie-in with Reading Borough Council’s ambitious one-way IDR scheme.

and on another note ...

Just seven weeks before a year-long study into road pricing begins we can tell you what the scheme is likely to mean for those who live in Reading, those who travel in for work and for leisure and also the implications for businesses.
He revealed:
The council would set its own fee for road charging – it would not be part of a national pricing scheme.
Road tolls are likely to be one-off fees for drivers, not a pay-per-mile scheme.
Reading borough residents could get a discount.
There would be no London-style cordon, where drivers are charged to enter a congestion charge zone.
Cash raised through the system could help pay for other major transport plans such as a third Thames bridge and the planned mass rapid transit system.

Cllr Howarth was also keen to stress that the feasibility study, which is being funded by £680,000 from the Department of Transport’s Transport Innovation Fund and £680,000 council money, will only look at various options and does not mean the council is committed to introducing road pricing.
The computer-based study is due to start in April and finish next March and road pricing would not start until later next year at the earliest, after the study has been carried out and its results analysed. It will focus on the A33 Relief Road and the A327 Shinfield Road but it is understood that if introduced it could encompass other main arteries
into town.

(02-13) 13:52 PST SAN RAFAEL -- A San Rafael man who told police that he was kidnapped at gunpoint early Saturday and crashed his car to escape his captors actually wrecked his wife's new car all on his own and was hoping to avoid blame, authorities said today.
Police say 35-year-old Jorge Mejia left a San Rafael nightclub, Club 101, around 1 a.m. Saturday and set off for River Rock Casino in Geyserville.
On the way, said San Rafael police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher, Mejia ran off the road and crashed his car. The 2007 Ford Focus was still drivable, and Mejia decided to scrap his gambling plans and head back home.
"He was headed back into Marin (County) and was getting back on the freeway near where Highway 12 and 101 meet when the car became disabled," Rohrbacher said.
It's there that Mejia's story veered off course, she said. (more here)

3 rather good videos

Match of the Day closed their coverage of this cup tie using New Order’s ‘True Faith’ as their closing music. In the face of much criticism from the national press this week, Steve Coppell seemed to be asking Reading fans to keep the faith. The result and the nature in which it was achieved will have told all and sundry that the gospel according to Steve Coppell is indeed worth listening to.
Both sides were supposedly fielding weakened sides but Manchester United’s starting line up had plenty of big names that would contend with Reading; namely internationals in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo; Michael Carrick; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Louis Saha. Ronaldo tried to take control for United but found himself stifled by the collective efforts of the Reading defence. Ronaldo shot wide on three occasions in the first half, but United found that Reading held firm. Reading’s Australian international goalkeeper Adam Federici was looking comfortable too not being troubled by the Ronaldo chances and a close range take from Solskjaer who could not convert a Michael Carrick cross.
It was Carrick who did break the deadlock in first half stoppage time (2 bloody mins as well); just when 0-0 looked to be the half time score. Carrick produced a pile driver from the outside of the box, that was hard and low and beat Federici. The goal appeared to be harsh on Reading. However, Reading perhaps had leaned a little too much towards a policy of containment. If they wanted to stay in the FA Cup, they would have to score in the second half and once again compound their critics.
A goal conceded before half time is always seen as a psychological score. Reading though came into their own in the second half, particularly after United failed to increase their advantage. Ronaldo could not score after a feint touch from Federici pushed the Portuguese shot wide. If Reading rode their luck in the face of some sloppy United finishing, they totally deserved to do so. In the 67th minute came the moment we had all been waiting for.
Brynar Gunnarsson rose to meet a John Oster corner and scored with a powerful header. Gunnarsson was positioned just near the penalty spot, but the crowd of players between him and the net had no chance of stopping the header. Gunnarsson is possibly the most likely player in the Reading squad to be afforded the title of utility player. If that description appears to be patronising, it is most certainly not meant to be. Gunnarsson is not a regular first team selection, but whenever he is called upon he plays with such verve that he has never let Reading down. That was true today as the player covered so many areas of the pitch to thwart United. Of course the Icelandic international has scored a few important goals along the way, though perhaps none more famous than this Old Trafford equaliser.
With the scores at 1-1, the match erupted into an end to end thriller in the final twenty minutes. Dave Kitson could have given Reading a winner after United defender Nemanja Vidic struggled to shepherd the ball out of play. Kitson harassed the defender and got a touch on the ball only for it to fall just wide of the United goal. Nicky Shorey also should have scored with a shot by the left hand post following a Seol Ky Heon cross and would have done but for a great defensive headed clearance from Wes Brown.
Manchester United had their chances to win the game late on. Henrik Larsson had a shot superbly pushed wide by Federici, when at first glance it looked like another glaring United miss. Louis Saha had a one on one with Federici in the last minute, but shot wide again. Both sides couldn’t get a winner and much to the chagrin of Manchester United, but the delight of Reading a replay will take place at Madejski Stadium.

Labels: Reading

Wife: Honey..... What are You Looking for ?
Husband : Nothing.
Wife : Nothing..?? You've been reading our marriage certificate for an hour ??
Husband : I was just looking for the expiration date.

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Son: Mom, when I was on the bus with Dad this morning, he told me to give up my seat to a lady.
Mom: Well, you have done the right thing.
Son: But mum, I was sitting on daddy's lap.

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Girl to her boyfriend: One kiss and I'll be yours forever.
The guy replies: Thanks for the warning. hahahahaha

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A wife asked her husband: "What do you like most in me my pretty face or my sexy body?"
He looked at her from head to toe and replied: "I like your sense of humor."

Labels: Reading

A woman meets a man in a bar. They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together. They get back to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment, she notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with soft, sweet, cuddly teddy bears.
There are three shelves in the bedroom with hundreds and hundreds of cute, cuddly teddy bears, carefully placed in rows covering the entire wall!
It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to lovingly arrange them and she was immediately touched by the amount of thought he had put into organizing the display. There were small bears all along the bottom shelf, medium-sized bears covering the length of the middle shelf, and huge, enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf. She found it strange for an obviously masculine guy to have such a large a collection of Teddy Bears, but doesn't mention this to him, and actually is quite impressed by his sensitive side.
They share a bottle of wine and continue talking and, after a while, she finds herself thinking, "Oh my God! Maybe, this guy could be the one! Maybe he could be the future father of my children?" She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips. He responds warmly.
They continue to kiss, the passion builds, and he romantically lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom where they rip off each other's clothes and make hot, steamy love.
She is so overwhelmed that she responds with more passion, more creativity, more heat than she has ever known, and even did a few things she had never done with any other man.
After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow. The woman rolls over, gently strokes his chest and asks coyly, "Well, how was it?" The guy gently smiles at her, strokes her cheek, looks deeply into her eyes, and says......................
.......
.............."Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf!"