Reading 2 Loughborough Students 3

Reading’s captain Emma Thomas
[Photo: Reading Evening Post]

After a good away win on the Saturday Reading found themselves on the wrong end of a 302 result on the Sunday when they failed to capitalise on their recent run of away form, and a slip up by Sunderland, by crashing to a disappointing home defeat.

With further players absent they draft in Nicola West from the 1As to the squad, but knew that down to the bare bones a 4th game in 8 days would test their reserves of fitness but everything started so promisingly for the Blues. Reading looked smart in their knew blue shirts and exploded out of the blocks after a professional warm up, that contrasted with that of their opponents who looked like they would rather not be playing. It was no surprise then that, cheered on by their home crowd, Reading raced into a 2-0 lead after only 9 minutes for the perfect start.

Emma Thomas converted another penalty corner in the 6th minute to keep Saturday’s theme going, and her pass from a free hot at the top of the D was deflected into goal with some finesse by Erin Ruxton only 3 minutes later. Reading were as dominant as they had been in the mid-section of Saturday’s game and were cruising, whilst the Students looked hopelessly deflated. After 20 minutes of utter dominance however the wheels began to fall off for Reading as they began to run out of energy far too early in the game. As the substitutions kicked in to allow players to rest, Reading found themselves having to play too many players in unfamiliar positions, with Emma Thomas slotting into full back and Vicky Bryant into CH. Loughborough took advantage of Reading’s confusion to revive themselves and scored two goals in the 5 minutes leading up to half time to level the scores before Reading could settle.

Erin Ruxton and Emily Malden [Photo: Reading Evening Post]

Reading’s disappointment was increased in the 49th minute when Leah Wilkinson fired the students ahead and were then forced to reorganise again when Ali Pope had to leave the field for treatment after colliding with the forward in a desparate attempt to prevent the goal. With heavy legs it was difficult for Reading to get back into the game although they worked incredibly hard to do so. Claire Kerr was once again too trciky to handle and she won a series of penalty corners but Reading couldn’t even capitalise on these.

With the game getting fractious, Loughborough were reduced to 10 men when one of their players was sin binned after Emma Thomas found herself dumped on the turf one time too many, but Reading couldn’t find a breakthrough. With time running out Reading began to gamble and it nearly paid off as Ali Pope intercepted the ball and charged forward interpassing with Kerr and Vicky Bryant, but Bryant chose to pass right in the D with Pope and Chiara Clarke both free had the pass gone left. Emily Malden found herself open to give Reading a final opportunity but fired narrowly wide.

As in November Loughborough left Reading feeling mugged. Trojans recaptured the division lead with a 4-3 victory over Durham, but Sunderland could only draw at Doncaster leaving Reading to rue their disappointment at dropping home points even more. Reading now have a weekend off but when they resume league action in March they face the top two in successive games travelling to Sunderland on 1 March and hosting Trojans on 8 March (13:30 Sonning Lane). Good performances, and points, from these two games will be key to determining if Reading can still mount a promotion challenge this season.