Piece of piss, this League One stuff isn’t it?
When we stumbled to yet another pre-season defeat, this time at Southend, you would have looked to yesterday with a feeling of dread and despair.
Promotion was good, but it was only going to be a hiding at the Madejski Select Car Leasing Stadium.
3-0 if we were lucky that they were feeling benevolent. Rock bottom after three games, not looking like we’d even get a point after October, that kind of thing.
Maybe we shouldn’t have worried after all?
OK, it’s still three games into the season, we could have a bad break or two (literally) and still end up struggling all campaign.
We haven’t had the ten-game marker yet, but already it doesn’t feel so bad. Hell, keep this up and it might be an enjoyable season after all.
True, Reading fans aren’t impressed with Noel Hunt (I’ll leave those who went to argue whether his side really did dominate the game), and August is the best time to catch these big-name sides.
You can’t argue with an away win whoever it’s against, and it sounds like Nathan Bishop is already coming into his own. Hell, he’s even got the distribution problems of a typical Wimbledon goalkeeper.
It was good to see Matty Stevens finding the net in open play again, and that was some header (ditto the cross from Asiimwe – bet Charlton take him back in January).
Though watching the highlights, it was some miss from the Reading player earlier in the game. Even if Lewis was on the line.
Browne scoring was not only much needed for us, but much needed from him too. Deflection or not, he’s claiming it.
Him and Stevens struggled with the need to grind out results last season, and while we got the ultimate reward they looked lesser players as a result.
Could League One reignite their collective goalscoring? One hopes so.
Their goal by the way was one of those you can’t really do much about. Apparently it was Reading’s first of the season and you wish they’d scored it in their next game.
One day we’ll have a comfortable 2-0 win where we don’t need to worry about anything. Yesterday wasn’t that day.
You can certainly understand JJ’s reaction though, and I do think it’s proving that he’s more of a manager for League One than League Two.
I never thought he was that bad for Charlton, and he left because of the idiot in charge at the Valley back then.
He’s got less to play with at AFCW than in SE7, but he’s already doing a decent enough job.
It may be because we’ve got a setup that looks more geared to L1, with a manager who is definitely of this level, but yesterday grabs me in a way that I perhaps didn’t expect.
You would expect it to be all “OMG WE BEAT READING AT THEIR PLACE” – but it wasn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good result against opponents who should really be a division higher.
But after the game yesterday, and heading back home on the tube (Orient and Stockport aren’t much better than us, and I continue to die on the hill that L1 isn’t to be scared of), I had this thought.
Remember when we first got into L1 in 2016, in the AFCW era, and we headed to Charlton and won 2-1 in mid-September?
Here’s the SW19 report from that very fixture, by the way.
Remember how we collectively walked back from that game and realised we’d just beaten a “big” team on their own turf? And how big a moment that felt?
Reading in 2025 are a bit like Charlton in 2016, and yet it didn’t feel like that one bit yesterday.
I expect the Royals will finish above us, and should be nearer the top than we are, although sides like Bolton have been stuck in this division for a while too.
We’ll probably get gubbed by Cardiff on Tuesday, and they’ll remind us the hard way there’s a L1 pecking order.
But you go into our next game with a bit more confidence now, that even a “known” side is there for the taking.
The difference between our collective attitude now and before the season started is immense.
As you can gather, I wasn’t there. And I had a ticket that I just couldn’t shift (not helped by Reading doing pay-on-the-gate, the bastards).
Your editor has done loads of games at the Madejski, and while it’s a fine stadium in itself – going there always reminds me why I don’t like out-of-town venues.
Working there is one of the better places to go to, although I haven’t been since 2023/24, but you notice that when it’s 6pm and you’re in somewhere that’s deserted.
And I mean, you’re one of about five or six people around just 90 minutes after the final whistle.
I’ve read one or two of our fans describe it as “friendly but sterile”, and that’s a fair description.
It’s why I’m not only glad we got to go back to PL but where our gaff is (literally) situated. It’s a built-up area in London with Wimbledon itself and Tooting within walking distance.
That’s what I’ve always felt about going to games at PL. Sure, it’s not perfect, and there’s always a few things that need sorting out.
But games in SW17 never feel like they’re in a warehouse on an industrial estate…