Reading 3-0 Cambridge United: Home Comforts
12/03/2024 05:40 PM
Harry's take as Reading sealed yet another lovely home win.
While every game for us at the moment is as important as the last, particularly in the league, for most people tonight was just a midweek home game against Cambridge United - nothing special. However, it carried an extra bit of poignancy for me.
Next week I'm heading off to the other side of the world for a bit of travelling, making tonight my more than likely last game of the season - barring an unlikely top-six finish.
I'm not complaining about that in the slightest, but this club is a huge part of my day-to-day life, and it will genuinely be the thing I miss most while away. So I travelled to the game wanting that win just a little bit extra than normal.
Thankfully the large majority of our core players got some form of rest in Sunday's marathon against Harborough Town. However, you still worried going into the game whether any of the lads would still be feeling a tad achy or sore.
In the first half we were the better team no doubt. There were a few hairy moments at the back that a better side may have punished us for - but we dominated possession. However, we did so without ever upping it up the notch we needed to find the opener.
Sam Smith should have done better with a one on one and Jeriel Dorsett hit the woodwork with a instinctive header from a fizzed-in cross, but that extra 10% or 20% alluded us.
It was the second half when things just fell into place for us. I say that because we didn't really move it up a gear, we didn't really have to.
One thing I wanted above all tonight was to see one last Lewis Wing Special. Within minutes of the restart he'd done just that, and it was exactly what we needed.
Against a side who weren't causing us any danger, it allowed us to control the tempo and manage any weary legs.
On the hour mark a powerful run and timely pass from Ben Elliott - who I thought was very impressive - teed up Mamadi Camara who showed some composure to cut back inside and double the lead. I'm not Camara's hugest fan, he doesn't look quite cut out for this level yet to me, but he's an honest player who clearly wants to improve and it was a nice moment for him.
And then the moment of the night, the cherry on the cake, the pièce de résistance. Wing was fed the ball 30 yards out and planted it supremely into the top corner.
Seriously, tell me a player who has produced this level of individual quality on such a consistent basis as Wing has. I'll wait. It's a joke how he keeps doing it time and time again. And it's a privilege to watch him in a Reading shirt.
From then on it was as plain sailing as it gets. Cambridge chose to shut up shop and attempt to stem any further bleeding, and we were happy to see out the game without adding too much further pressure. The damage had been done, the game was won, and both sides had acknowledged that.
Due to this being my last in a little while, I watched this game from a very different viewpoint than I normally do. I'm travelling home now thinking how grateful I am that, at this moment in time, this club has this group of players and staff.
It's been yet another few days of bad news off the pitch, but this team just keep putting it to the back of their minds - or not paying any attention to it at all - and cheering us all up with their performances on it.
I'm going to miss watching this team week in week out, but to be able to leave having watched three goals, a win and a clean sheet - and with us in the top six - is something I'm truly grateful for and appreciative of above all else.
I bloody love this football club.
