Then came the news..."The game will be kicking off 10- 15 minutes late due to high numbers of people trying to get in" Mel reported from the PA box having already played all the intro music.

"You don't know what you're doing" chanted the City fans and half sat down to read their programmes as the other half ran off to get another beer in (At least those queues were moving pretty efficiently today. Until half time...but that's another story.)

The Groundsman put the sprinklers back on and the Reading team came out to make a strange pilgrimage to their fans, applauded them and then went back in again. Bizarre.

Eventually it was time to try again and after the "classical music" ("whose name I don't know -
S Kind) the place erupted as the boys came out to the Post Horn Gallop.

And then broke into huge boos and abuse as after it they played House of Pain's crappy "Jump Around" killing all the built up atmosphere dead. Bloody hopeless.

By this time we were on the 5th rendition of the day of "Dennis Wise - what a w*nker, what a w*nker" only interupted by the chorus of "Oh bloody hell, it's Elleray" as we noticed the ref.

It wasn't long before we were on our feet though. "Stand up if you love Leicester" sang the Kop / Fosse Stand. No sooner had we sat down than we were up again...celebrating a third minute goal from Brian Deane! (That's the North end scored at too so no jinx there - phew). A knock down from Dickov set Deano up.

Unbelievably only a minute later Dickov won a penalty! This was going far too well. It couldn't last.

No Muzzy on the field, so who would take it? They looked around a lot and a few asked Elliott. Dickov took control and the ball and set it up. 2-0 to City and Dickov well chuffed with himself.

Reading were in pieces and City looking good...did they capitalise? Did they finish Reading off? No. They sat back, and started getting wobblier and wobblier!

Reading quickly realised Andrew Impey was a weak link (playing out of position at right back and still obviously not fit) and kept coming at him. A poorly timed attempted tackle by No Neck Imps saw Mr Elleray pointing to the spot at the other end after 20 minutes and Walker had no chance to save this week. 2-1.

The rest of the game dragged on and on. And on. And we clung on to the lead. Thank goodness they were poor.

City had a few shots but nothing really too troublesome for the royals.

Second half and City had obviously had a bit of a pep talk from Adams as they came out well again. A few good moves and flowing football created good chances. Scowy put a header just over.

The place erupted on 75 minutes when Tommy Wright made a great run through and was bundled over in the penalty area. Elleray waved play-on to an incensed the crowd.

Junior Lewis did fine in midfield...did a job that needed doing without stuffing up. Welcome back Junior. Stef Oakes made a rare appearance from the subs bench but no real impact. He replaced Jordan Stewart who had a very mediocre game indeed. Andrew Impey had a total 'mare first half and had all his team and fans yelling at him. He got it together a bit more in the second.

Dickov, of course it goes without saying, picked up a yellow card! (Unfairly for once). The red mist only descended a couple of times this game though.

Tommy Wright who came on for Deane, immediately had his "Ooh Tommy Wright" chant to gee him up. He did well, making great runs and winning balls. Looked like he could get into the right places and potentially we may have a good little striker there with a bit more experience. He's not afraid of a challenge or two either and managed to pick up a booking too.

Highlight for us was Billy McKinlay. Despite not being fully recovered from injury he ran his socks off and won the ball back on several occasions. He's proving more with ever game we should give him a longer contract (Let's go mad and make it 3 months instead of one, eh? What the heck).

We know there were key people missing (Izzet, Sinclair, Summerbee). We know there were unfit people in there that hadn't played for ever (Junior Lewis, Andrew Impey) and we know there were people on the pitch who were carrying injuries and shouldn't have been on there (Deane, McKinlay, Scowcroft?)....so maybe we're being harsh. But it was a pretty bloomin dire game!

Still we ground out the points which at this stage is all that matters to stay up there with the leaders.

Delayed kick off so the sprinklers came back on	Scowy gets another header off target