Tag Archives: Reading

4th February 2023- Championship, Reading 2 Watford 2

Attendance: 13,861

BBC Sport: Ismaila Sarr’s close-range effort put the Hornets in front after half an hour as Watford had the better of the first period. The visitors doubled their lead shortly after the break as debutant Ryan Porteous headed in a corner, while Sarr had a third disallowed soon after for offside.

Sky Sports: Reading, though, reduced the deficit in the 66th minute from a Tom Ince penalty and levelled 10 minutes from time through a superb Jeff Hendrick volley.

BHappy: I can’t claim to have had a close relationship with Oli Phillips.  We met a couple of times, he was kind enough to provide some appropriate words for the back of the book. Others have written meaningful and informed testimonies about the man himself. I often find my reaction to the passing of people that I didn’t know personally… stilted.  Limited, even if they were people I kind of respected.  I remember my now wife being aghast at my lack of hand-wringing  when Diana passed away, horrible and tragic as that was.  But the passing of someone who…  you rely on in some sense, or have relied on, is different. 

Fran’s Watford Blog: Last week we heard the sad news of the passing of Oli Phillips.  His reports about the Hornets in the Watford Observer were a vital ingredient to my falling in love with the club.  I had the paper on order at the local newsagents and, when I was away at university, my Mum would keep the pile of papers for my return.  Later, when I was on the board of the Supporters’ Trust, Oli was very helpful to me, calling from France to chat through his knowledge of some of the behind the scenes stuff that we were looking into.  It is fitting that the Media Suite at Vicarage Road has been named after Oli and I am so glad that he was made aware of it before he died.

7th January 2023- FA Cup Third Round, Reading 2 Watford 0

No programme was produced for the game.
Attendance: 7,954

BBC Sport: Goals from Kelvin Abrefa and Shane Long were enough to beat a below-par Watford side and earn Reading a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Before kick-off there was a minute’s applause in memory of Gianluca Vialli, whose tragically early death was announced this week.  The players also wore black armbands as a mark of respect for a man that was admired and loved throughout English (and Italian) football.

8th November 2022- Championship, Watford 2 Reading 0

WFC.Net Jon Marks Goal Commentary: 1  2

Attendance: 18,847

BBC Sport: Joao Pedro’s double was enough for a victory over Reading that sent Watford into the Championship play-off places.

Sky Sports: Goals in both halves ensured the Hertfordshire side bounced back from defeat against Coventry last weekend.

Fran’s Watford Blog: As this was the nearest home game to Remembrance Sunday, Bilić and Ince laid wreaths on the touchline and a trumpeter played the Last Post to impeccable silence in the ground.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62776174

9th April 2021- Championship, Watford 2 Reading 0

BBC Sport: Two goals from Ismaila Sarr saw second-placed Watford take another step towards promotion back to the Premier League with a win over Reading at Vicarage Road.

Sky Sports: Watford took the lead when Kiko Femenia, Nathaniel Chalobah and Sarr linked up brilliantly, with the latter cutting the ball from his right onto his left and then curling a powerful effort and, less than two minutes later, they had a second.

BHappy: For the second, within two minutes, Chalobah robs Gibson, perhaps yet to get his head back into the game, and Philip Zinckernagel plays the pass. In both cases, they’re situations we weren’t even interested in, let alone involved in, under previous managers; we were too busy getting our shape, tucking in, locking up. They come with risk, as we’ll see, but so much reward.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56611869

3rd October 2020- Championship, Reading 1 Watford 0

https://www.skysports.com/football/reading-vs-watford/teams/429748

Post Match

The Hornets, who have been steadily getting better as the season has gradually unfolded, suffered a setback here after being on the receiving end this time of a single goal in a game.

Watford lose to Reading in the Championship

The Hornets fluffed a hatful of good opportunities to score, despite dominating large chunks of the match, and drew a blank, with Reading goalkeeper Rafael rarely threatened, while George Puscas’s scrappy goal at the end of the first-half was enough for the Royals to seal their fourth win out of four.

Vladimir Ivic claims bad decisions cost Watford at Reading

Watford players rated after Reading defeat

James Garner came closest for the Hornets, thundering a first-half free-kick against the crossbar.

In a more even second period, Watford threatened only sporadically and Reading held on for a relatively comfortable victory.

It was all going rather well.  Too well.  And then two things happened.  Firstly the hosts switched formation to drop an extra body into their increasingly ragged midfield.  Secondly, Tom Dele-Bashiru twisted his knee awkwardly in a fall.