FA PREMIERSHIP
Venue: MADEJSKI STADIUM
READING 2 SUNDERLAND 1
Scorers: Kebe(2); Gardiner
What a trek to get to this one. Left Airdrie at 9pm on Friday to catch overnight coach to London from Glasgow Buchanan Street. Got to London at 7am. Freezing cold so a warm bacon roll and tea from the BreadBox in Victoria Train Station was very welcome. Headed to the Emirates and had a stroll around the outside of it before returning to Victorua Bus Station to get the 11 o'clock bus to somewhere near Reading, Calcot to be precise. Made a mistake of getting another bus into Reading City Centre rather than waiting on a football special F20 or F21 from Sainsbury bus interchange. Took the matchday special from near the Railway Station and eventually reached my 79th stadium just before 2pm.
My son Daniel is the big Sunderland fan and we had targetted this fixture from the begining of the season as a possible awayday. Getting a ticket to any Sunderland away match is seldom easy so we were surprised that the tickets did go on general sale and we were indeed able to purchase two from Sunderland.
Reading fans were very friendly and were keen to ask how far we had travelled and how long it took. The stadium was a typical new build very neat and tidy and we had a terrific corner viw from our double A seats in the away section.
The match was decent with both teams going for the win but on the day Sunderland were not at their best in front of goal and paid for their inability to convert a number of very good second half chances as Reading scored a late winner.
Our return journey time was 15 hours but all in all well worth it.
from earlier in the day....
Personal note:
1st visit to Madejski Stadium
1st time seeing Reading FC
25th Sunderland match
201st match not featuring Celtic