A postcard from the edge of
the world
Reading 1 Burnley 1, 9th September 1998
Cozzo
Our two intrepid travellers have been
cast from their transporter into a barren alien wilderness. The sun has gone down and
there is a slight chill in the evening breeze, which also carries a strange unpleasant
odour. Is it poisonous? Indeed is the air even breathable? Too late now as the transporter
has departed and the rendezvous is not for another three hours.
Looking around them, a stream of alien figures
can be seen trudging along a muddy track towards a distant brightly lit outpost of
civilisation. They mutter in a strange tongue in low, rumbling discontented tones to one
another. Strictly speaking they are not heading towards the light but winding backwards
and forwards in huge sweeping arcs which make the 500 metre direct path more like 1,500
metres. It winds and twists around the huge metal, skeletal frames rising from the dank,
murky pits before eventually reaching its destination.
The noise of the shuffling feet of the hunched
figures gives a monotonous rhythm to the depressing atmosphere. The two travellers, weary
from their arduous journey, speak little tending to exchange furtive, worried glances and
sniff the malevolent air whose odour has failed to fade into the obscurity of familiarity.
Eventually they reach the light and squint at
the contrast to the previous darkness. Uniformed guards are positioned around the
perimeter and it is impossible to get past them to the outer wall of the building without
giving one of them a few credits in exchange for a small permit.
"So this is the Majedski Stadium,"
says Firmo.
"Yeah" says the fireman collecting on
behalf of the Fire Services Benevolent Fund, as if it was actually a question that needed
answering. "Smells like shit though doesn’t it?" says he stating the
obvious once more.
"Yeah" we chorus falling into this
strange hypnotic dialogue of the bleeding obvious.
"Know where the away end is, mate?" I
ask.
"Round the other side I think" he
replies making me realise that I’ve fallen completely into the trap because if I
can’t see it on this side then….
Knowing there would be transport problems
we’ve arrived early. So early in fact that I just catch the last few players leaving
the pitch after the warm up. Burnley reverted to 4-4-2 and lined up: Ward, Brass, Reid,
Swan, Armstrong, Little, Jepson, Carl Smith, Robertson, Payton and Cooke with Scott,
Heywood and Carr-Lawton on the bench. Paul Smith had apparently picked up a groin strain
in training but Teamtalk was rumouring earlier in that day that his poor form meant it
would have been his last chance.
Who cares who Reading had? But they did have a
few known to Burnley fans including Ray Houghton, Robert Fleck and the infamous duo of
Caskey and Bernal, the latter fortunately only making the bench.
The game started slowly enough with both teams
probing. Reading looked slightly more dangerous in the last third whilst Burnley
didn’t commit too much forward in the early stages which meant that support for the
forwards was not always forthcoming. A couple of half-chances and long shots for Burnley
and a smart turn and shot from Reading that went just wide plus a very tame side-foot
effort when well placed were the best efforts in the early exchanges. Burnley’s
passing was not great but they were getting their fair share of possession and looking
reasonably comfortable.
This all changed with Reading’s goal which
came from a rebound after Ward had saved the first effort. An easy tap-in which fell
perfectly for Williams, but where were the defenders? The Clarets were clearly rattled by
the goal and Reading attempted to seize on this. Swan’s response was a hefty tackle
from behind on Williams which had me worried before the referee, Mr Danson showed the red
card. If it had been an opposing player I would have been calling for him to be sent off,
so I can’t really complain about the decision. You could say that many defenders have
escaped with a caution for similar challenges this season but that’s really no
excuse.
Burnley re-shuffled with Armstrong moving to
centre half, Robertson dropping in at left back and Payton dropping into midfield leaving
Cooke on his own up front. They survived until half-time but it looked like a case of
damage limitation and how many would Reading get.
At half-time Carr-Lawton replaced Carl Smith and
went into attack with withdrawing slightly. The game then became end to end as Burnley
attacked in numbers whenever possible with Little, Payton and Cooke all getting forward to
support Carr-Lawton. This did mean that they left themselves open to the counter-attack
but on the whole they coped with the Reading attack quite well, and as game progressed
Burnley looked more and more dangerous. Little was causing havoc down the right wing as
the poor full-back couldn’t get anywhere near him. A ball through to Payton, who
burst into the box, should have led to a penalty (and a sending off) when he was hauled
back whilst lining up a shot. Mr Danson waved away the protests, although he could easily
have been unsighted. The same could not be said of the linesman who had a perfect view and
whilst perfectly willing to give Reading free kicks for trivialities near the corner flag,
he did not want to take the responsibility of giving a penalty, no matter how blatant.
Things went from bad to worse when Jepson went
down in the Reading box after an innocuous challenge and had to be carried off. Scott came
on at right-back, Brass moved into the middle, Armstrong went to left back and Robertson
moved back into midfield. At least I think that that’s what happened.
Burnley continued to press forward with Little
the main scourge of the Reading defence. Carr-Lawton was working hard, holding the ball up
well and getting excellent support from Payton and Cooke. Eventually, the pressure told
and the Clarets got their reward when Little slipped Payton in and he drilled a right foot
shot inside the near post.
Rather than sitting back and holding out for the
draw the Clarets continued to press but always looked likely to be caught on the break. In
a tense last few minutes Caskey thumped a shot against the bar, the rebound was scrambled
clear and the Clarets got a well-earned point.
Given the situation of the game at 1-0 down and
only 10 men, a point was a good outcome especially as it was our first away point.
Jepson’s injury and Swan’s upcoming suspension are two negatives from the game
and the squad is going to be stretched even further. The positives are the continuing
emergence of the youngsters and the form of Payton, Cooke and Little. It’s not going
to come right overnight but the signs are there; the main thing being that the attitude is
right and the team spirit is there. If we are to progress the squad does need improving
especially in midfield and so Stan must be given some money to go out and get those
players now!
I thought the long walk back to the taxi would
be bad until I saw all the cars trying to get out of the car park. Some apparently took an
hour and a half to get out of the car park! One of our members called for the police from
his car because he thought there was going to be trouble between some of the drivers, and
all this for a game where the ground was less than half full. Our taxi driver had
obviously decided it wasn’t a good idea to meet at our rendezvous and not bothered.
Can’t blame him really. We ended up getting a cab to pick us up at the Harvester on
the A33, although if you can find them the best option is get the buses which head back
into town. Still, we managed a quick pint at the Station before finding nobody to tell us
where the trains were going from, no monitors or indicator boards working and an irate
Woody stomping up and down trying to find which platform to get the Paddington train from.
So for the Majedski stadium; come back when
it’s finished, don’t forget your gas mask and a pair of good walking shoes and
whatever you do don’t use any naked flames. Like many of the new stadia, I still fail
to understand how several thousand people trying to walk down precipitous stairs with
nothing to hold onto can be safer than a terracing. How long before somebody trips and we
have serious injuries? On terraces you could move quickly away from problem people or
possible trouble. These days, it’s not a problem if the stand is half empty but at
many matches today you have little choice but to stay put. The only people to profit from
the Taylor report and its recommendations are Linpave and similar building companies. I
could go on, but I won’t.
Team: Ward, Robertson, Armstrong,
Brass, Swan (SO 35), Reid, Little, Jepson (Scott 58), Cooke, Payton, C Smith (Carr-Lawton
45). SNU: Heywood.
Links
- More from this game and the
home game
