Crisis-club Reading snatched defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday, going down 3-2 to Shrewsbury.
The result leaves the Royals rooted firmly to the bottom of the division, ten points adrift of safety and winless away in the league in 12 months. To make matters worse, they led Salop 2-1 going into injury time and appeared to be on course to climb above Cheltenham at the foot of the table.
Sam Smith and Dom Ballard netted before the quarter-hour mark to give them a lead, and despite Tom Bayliss pulling one back, Reading looked to be preparing to record their first away win since November 12th last year. On that occasion, a last-gasp own goal gave them victory, and two last-gasp goals snatched it from them in Shropshire.
Chey Dunkley levelled two minutes into stoppage time before Jason Sraha grabbed the win for Matt Taylor’s side with 96 minutes on the clock. It was heartbreak for the travelling Royals fans, who already seemed resigned to a spell in the fourth tier next season, their first since 1983/84.
The result left a lot of fans angry, but veteran midfielder Sam Hutchinson admitted post-game that he felt exactly the same. The former Sheffield Wednesday man was partly at fault for the leveller, and rather than try to gloss over the troubles at the club, he confessed he was incredibly upset.
“I am angry,” he told BBC Radio Berkshire after the game. “We don’t go out there to lose. There is stuff going on at the club that not everyone is privy to and that everyone doesn’t see on a daily basis.
“Everyone is trying, and we are going against the tide; that is life. When you come out here, and everyone wants to slate you, it is difficult to take.”
The Royals have just four away days to try to shake off the unwanted honour of going a full calendar year without an away win in the league, with Wycombe, Lincoln and Peterborough all difficult trips. Their final game of 2023, away at Cheltenham, may be a good chance to break the run, but it also looks very likely to be a League Two fixture in 2024.
Hutchinson admitted that not just the team but the entire club is not good enough at the moment.
“We can make excuses all we want, we’re not good enough as a team or a club. Anger comes from everyone. You’re angry, I’m angry, fans are angry.
“You can apologise until you’re blue on the face and can go in the changing room and speak rubbish, but it doesn’t help.”
The Royals have had more success on the road in the cup – they beat Exeter City 9-0 in the EFL Trophy and put four past Championship side Millwall in the EFL Cup. However, those were on-off results that simply masked the ongoing issues faced by the players and supporters.
Writer’s View
It’s fair to say things at Reading are a mess, and comments like this do not help. Hutchinson is an old hand, but his comments only serve to underline the deep-seated problems at the club. Royals fans are expecting a stint in League Two next season, and there’s no evidence to suggest they have what it takes to get out of trouble.
Sadly, the problems with the ownership have overshadowed everything on the field, and there seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel. The ones who suffer most are the fans, not least when they hear players are angry and the club – not the team, the whole club – is not good enough.
