Adam left his home in Maidenhead at around 6AM on Saturday morning.

Micah, beginning his journey in Wokingham, had a slightly earlier start, departing at half past five to catch the supporters' coach from the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Meanwhile, Richard was treated to a nice lie-in (by these standards), only having to set off from his Swindon home at around 7:45AM.

All three were making the 500-mile round-trip journey to Middlesbrough. All three had been at the SCL just four days earlier to watch Reading get battered 7-0 by Fulham.

So why bother?

Adam chuckles as he contemplates the question. 

Reading Chronicle: Reading fans up for it on Saturday. Image by: JasonPIXReading fans up for it on Saturday. Image by: JasonPIX

“It’s probably not the best answer, but it’s just what I do!” he eventually responds. “My weekends would be nothing without going to watch the football. I don’t know what I’d do on a Saturday if I wasn’t following Reading around the country or going down to the Madejski. 

“I couldn’t sit and watch at home or listen on the radio," he continues. "It’s just not the same. You go along for those one in a hundred times, or it feels like one in a hundred times at the moment, that you do nick the win. And I thought we had for a little while on Saturday. That’s why you go, for those rare times it does come off.

“It is just that hope. It’s that hope that drives me on, it’s that hope that made me get up at 5AM on Saturday morning.”

“I’ve followed Reading home and away since I was about 14 - seven years now,” Micah says. “I had the trip booked since the start of January, since before Kidderminster. In my head, I was always going to be going whether the results showed that we would play well or not, really.

“I had temptations to refund it after Fulham but at the end of the day it’s supporting the club, isn’t it? I wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Through thick and thin I’ll be there. I was at Kidderminster, I was at Fulham. It is tough to watch but at the end of the day as I said…it’s supporting the club. I’ve been there through the good times, when we’ve been playoff finalists, FA Cup semi-finalists, and I’ll be there through this dark time whether we’re in League One or the Premier League.”

Adam and Micah are as dedicated as they come, already committing to the trip up north long before they watched their side bow out of the FA Cup to sixth-tier Kidderminster and get pummelled by Fulham in the space of 72 hours.

But Richard did something potentially even more impressive - or insane - depending on how you look at it. He actually booked the away day AFTER the Fulham catastrophe.

“I only decided to go on the Thursday,” he explains. “I wasn’t planning on going but I thought, ‘I haven’t been to Middlesbrough’s ground. I thought it’s an opportunity to go to Middlesbrough…sod it! I’ve been going to watch Reading now for 35 years. You back the team, don’t you? You’ve got to do it? So it was more of a last-minute decision, really. 

“My mum was going ‘you’re mad, what are you going there for?’ and I went ‘Mum, why not?!'”

Reading Chronicle: Josh Laurent and Luke Southwood applaud the travelling Royals support. Image by: JasonPIXJosh Laurent and Luke Southwood applaud the travelling Royals support. Image by: JasonPIX

Richard’s reasoning for making the trip is quite simple...albeit slightly abstract.

“You just do it, don’t you?” he laughs.

Ultimately all three of these dedicated Reading fans - as well as the rest of the near-200 group who made the journey - knew the chances of an away victory were unlikely.

Everyone knows that Reading’s form is...well…not great. Meanwhile, Middlesbrough have been flying since the appointment of Chris Wilder.

But form doesn’t play a factor when you’re propelled by belief, faith, and hope.

“I’ve been to every away game apart from West Brom and Coventry,” Micah says. “West Brom I had Covid, Coventry I was in an operating theatre! 

“We went through a phase in 2019 where we won something like three out of 47 away games. And we played against Burton and we hadn’t won away in ten months.

"It was Tuesday night, we took about 200 people, the coach was half-full, we were expecting to lose. And then we go and win it 3-1. And that 3-1 made up for every single away day over the last ten months. And that’s what the Fulhams, the Swanseas, the Cardiffs have all done this year.

“Even going 1-0 up on Saturday, we didn’t expect it and we just went absolutely mad in the away end! Just going absolutely mental with 190 other fans…it’s the only thing I like to do!”

For 85 minutes at the Riverside Stadium, it seemed that this would be one of those momentously joyful occasions as Reading clung onto Andy Carroll’s second-half goal. Then in a ten-minute burst, the home side scored twice to condemn Reading to a gut-wrenching defeat. It wasn’t to be.

Reading Chronicle: Andy Carroll nods Reading in front. Image by: JasonPIXAndy Carroll nods Reading in front. Image by: JasonPIX

“We all had a very good guess we were going to lose after conceding the equaliser," Micah continues. "It was the first time it kind of hit me…’what am I doing with myself? Why am I travelling to every corner of the country for this?’ I was at the bottom rail where all the away fans were and I just had my head in my hands. I didn’t know what to do!”

But after that admission of doubt, Micah quickly follows up with a statement of conviction: “I’ve booked every single away day off. QPR, all the February ones, I’ll be at them all.

"It’s a heck of an effort for a club that isn't doing amazing. But I’ll be there Wednesday, I’ll be there Saturday, I’ll be at all the ones in February, I’ll be there.”

Every Reading fan is a credit to the club. They are the lifeblood of this famous institution and they should be at the centre of everything Reading is.

That doesn’t just include those who made the trip up to Middlesbrough, but those crazy enough to do so after the torrid week preceding it are an immense representation of the passion that runs through this football club - in its greatest moments, and during its darkest days.

You can virtually hear the wry smile cross Adam’s face as his final line leaves his lips before we hang up.

“If it happened again I’d do it all over again. Even if I knew we were going to lose.”