Royals crash out of FA Cup to League One Stevenage
Anthony Smith • Published 7 Jan 2012 17:15
0 Comments
Reading 0 - 1 Stevenage
READING were dumped out of the FA Cup by League One Stevenage following a 1-0 defeat at Madejski Stadium in the third round this afternoon.
A deflected 21st minute strike from DARIUS CHARLES was enough to end Royals' bid to reach a third successive quarter final and send Boro through to the fourth round.
In truth, Brian McDermott's lacklustre hosts could have been even further behind at the interval, with Adam Federici denying Lawrie Wilson.
Charles also blazed over the bar from eight yards as Boro carved out the best opportunities.
The closest Reading came to an equaliser was a defelcted effort from Simon Church, but their final ball was missing for most of the afternoon.
Boro could easily have grabbed a second goal after the break, with Wilson heading directly at Federici when anywhere else would have done.
There were further chances for Chris Bearsley, Joel Byrom and Wilson later in the game as frustrations began to creep in for the home side.
But Stevenage held on and Graham Westley's newly-promoted hosts deserved to go through.
It was Reading's second loss in a row following the league defeat at Cardiff City last Monday.
They will be desperate to avoid three defeats in a row when they return to Championship action with a trip to Watford on Saturday week.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 07 Jan 12
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.
