Reading's second season in the Premier League ended in relegation as
too many of the players who had achieved so much in the previous two
years struggled to reproduce their best form, and it proved extremely
difficult to bring in replacements of the necessary quality. The
departure of Steve Sidwell to Chelsea, in particular, left a gap in
the centre of midfield which both exposed the defence and disrupted
the passing game that had characterised the team previously. The
long-term injury to Glen Little also cut off the right-wing channel
that had set up so many goals.
The first half of the season was remarkable primarily for two
high-scoring defeats: 4-7 at Portsmouth
and 4-6 at Tottenham. On a more positive note, there was also a
memorable 3-1 win over Liverpool. The Tottenham defeat sparked a
club-record run of eight successive
defeats which saw Reading slump into the relegation zone. Most of these
looked difficult games on paper, but the defeat at home to relegation
rivals Bolton was to prove extremely costly. However this was followed
by a run of three wins in four games that looked to have secured safety.
Then came the key result of the season as Fulham won at the Madejski to
spark a great late run, while Reading were going six games without
scoring a goal. On the final day of the season, Reading needed to win
at already-relegated Derby and hope that Fulham slipped up at
FA Cup finalists Portsmouth. While the Royals finally found their goal
touch against the worst team ever to grace the Premier League, Fulham
grabbed a late winner to secure safety.
Manchester Utd A D 0-0
Chelsea H L 1-2 Bikey
Everton H W 1-0 Hunt
Bolton Wand A L 0-3
West Ham Utd H L 0-3
Sunderland A L 1-2 Kitson
Wigan Athletic H W 2-1 Kitson, Harper
Portsmouth A L 4-7 Rosenior, Kitson, Long, Campbell (og)
Derby County H W 1-0 Doyle
Blackburn Rov A L 2-4 Doyle 2
Newcastle Utd H W 2-1 Kitson, Long
Fulham A L 1-3 Doyle
Arsenal H L 1-3 Shorey
Manchester C A L 1-2 Harper
Middlesbrough H D 1-1 Kitson
Liverpool H W 3-1 Hunt (pen), Doyle, Harper
Birmingham C A D 1-1 Hunt (pen)
Sunderland H W 2-1 Ingimarsson, Hunt
West Ham Utd A D 1-1 Kitson
Tottenham H A L 4-6 Cissé, Ingimarsson, Kitson 2
Portsmouth H L 0-2
Aston Villa A L 1-3 Harper
Manchester Utd H L 0-2
Chelsea A L 0-1
Bolton Wand H L 0-2
Everton A L 0-1
Aston Villa H L 1-2 Shorey
Middlesbrough A W 1-0 Harper
Manchester C H W 2-0 Long, Kitson
Liverpool A L 1-2 Matějovský
Birmingham C H W 2-1 Bikey 2
Blackburn Rov H D 0-0
Newcastle Utd A L 0-3
Fulham H L 0-2
Arsenal A L 0-2
Wigan Athletic A D 0-0
Tottenham H H L 0-1
Derby County A W 4-0 Harper, Kitson, Doyle, Lita
PL HW HD HL HF HA AW AD AL AF AA PTS
1. Manchester Utd 38 17 1 1 47 7 10 5 4 33 15 87
2. Chelsea 38 12 7 0 36 13 13 3 3 29 13 85
3. Arsenal 38 14 5 0 37 11 10 6 3 37 20 83
4. Liverpool 38 12 6 1 43 13 9 7 3 24 15 76
5. Everton 38 11 4 4 34 17 8 4 7 21 16 65
6. Aston Villa 38 10 3 6 34 22 6 9 4 37 29 60
7. Blackburn Rov 38 8 7 4 26 19 7 6 6 24 29 58
8. Portsmouth 38 7 8 4 24 14 9 1 9 24 26 57
9. Manchester C 38 11 4 4 28 20 4 6 9 17 33 55
10. West Ham Utd 38 7 7 5 24 24 6 3 10 18 26 49
11. Tottenham H 38 8 5 6 46 34 3 8 8 20 27 46
12. Newcastle Utd 38 8 5 6 25 26 3 5 11 20 39 43
13. Middlesbrough 38 7 5 7 27 23 3 7 9 16 30 42
14. Wigan Athletic 38 8 5 6 21 17 2 5 12 13 34 40
15. Sunderland 38 9 3 7 23 21 2 3 14 13 38 39
16. Bolton Wand 38 7 5 7 23 18 2 5 12 13 36 37
17. Fulham 38 5 5 9 22 31 3 7 9 16 29 36
18. READING 38 8 2 9 19 25 2 4 13 22 41 36
19. Birmingham C 38 6 8 5 30 23 2 3 14 16 39 35
20. Derby County 38 1 5 13 12 43 0 3 16 8 46 11
R3 Tottenham HP A D 2-2 Hunt 2
R3(R) Tottenham HP H L 0-1
R2 Swansea City1 A W 1-0 * Lita
R3 LiverpoolP H L 2-4 Convey, Halls
* after extra time
R1(A) River Plate * L 0-1
R1(B) Olympique Lyon * W 1-0 Cox
R1(C) Shimizu S-Pulse * W 1-0 Gunnarsson
* all matches held in South Korea
PL W D L GF GA PTS
1. Bolton Wand 3 2 1 0 5 2 7
2. Chivas Guadalajara 3 1 1 1 5 2 4
3. Seongnam Ilhwa 3 0 3 0 1 1 3
4. Racing Santander 3 0 1 2 1 7 1
PL W D L GF GA PTS
1. Olympique Lyon* 3 2 0 1 5 2 6
2. READING 3 2 0 1 2 1 6
3. River Plate 3 2 0 1 3 3 6
4. Shimizu S-Pulse 3 0 0 3 0 4 0
* Lyons beat Bolton 1-0 in final
LG FA LC MC ALL PEN HAT RATE
1. Dave Kitson 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0.278
2. Kevin Doyle 6 0 0 0 6 0 0 0.167
James Harper 6 0 0 0 6 0 0 0.146
4. Stephen Hunt 4 2 0 0 6 2 0 0.150
5. André Bikey 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0.125
Shane Long 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0.094
7. Ívar Ingimarsson 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0.057
Nicky Shorey 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0.053
9. Leroy Lita 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0.111
10. Kalifa Cissé 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.040
Marek Matějovský 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.071
Liam Rosenior 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.053
13. Bobby Convey 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.042
John Halls 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.500
15. Own goals 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.024
Totals 41 2 3 0 46 2 0 1.095
LG FA LC MC ALL SUM
1. James Harper 38 1 2 0 41 41
2. Stephen Hunt 37 1+1 0+1 0 38+2 40
3. Marcus Hahnemann 38 0 0 0 38 38
4. Nicky Shorey 36 1 1 0 38 38
5. Kevin Doyle 34+2 0 0 0 34+2 36
6. Dave Kitson 28+6 0 1+1 0 29+7 36
7. Ívar Ingimarsson 33+1 1 0 0 34+1 35
8. Shane Long 7+22 2 1 0 10+22 32
9. Graeme Murty 28 0 0 0 28 28
10. Kalifa Cissé 11+11 2 1 0 14+11 25
11. André Bikey 14+8 1 1 0 16+8 24
12. Bobby Convey 12+8 2 2 0 16+8 24
13. Bryn Gunnarsson 18+2 0 0 0 18+2 20
14. Liam Rosenior 15+2 2 0 0 17+2 19
15. Leroy Lita 10+4 2 2 0 14+4 18
16. John Oster 12+6 0 0 0 12+6 18
17. Ibrahima Sonko 15+1 0 0 0 15+1 16
18. Michael Duberry 12+1 1 2 0 15+1 16
19. Marek Matějovský 10+4 0 0 0 10+4 14
20. Emerse Faé 3+5 1 2 0 6+5 11
21. Ulises d.l.Cruz 3+3 2 2 0 7+3 10
22. Jimmy Kébé 1+4 0 0 0 1+4 5
23. Adam Federici 0 2 2 0 4 4
24. Seol Ki-Hyeon 2+1 0 0 0 2+1 3
25. Alex Pearce 0 1+1 0+1 0 1+2 3
26. John Halls 0 0 2 0 2 2
27. Scott Golbourne 1 0 0+1 0 1+1 2
28. Glen Little 0+2 0 0 0 0+2 2
29. Simon Cox 0 0+1 0+1 0 0+2 2
30. Sam Sodje 0 0 1 0 1 1
31. James Henry 0 0 0+1 0 0+1 1
Totals 38 2 2 0 42 42
