Andy Munro gets excited at St Andrews.
I had quite a strict upbringing and was always taught to wait until Christmas for my presents but this year, Reading broke the rule.
Strangely enough, the opposition looked a very useful side going forward and kept good possession but it seemed like that every time, Blues went forward they scored. A 3-1 scoreline after 25 minutes was surreal and, in the days of the Geordie Tinkerer, that would have meant one thing and it wouldn’t have been a scoreline in favour of the hosts.
All Blues’ goals were absolute quality and Caddis set the trend with a screamer after a well worked free kick. Demarai Gray then finished off a fine run with a sublime finish before Glenn Murray – a proven Championship scorer with Palace – reduced the arrears when he out jumped an uncharacteristically static Blues’ defence. In fact, it was no more than Reading deserved having being denied by a combination of Randolph and some last ditch defending.
Yet we attacked and scored again soon afterwards through the irrepressible Demarai Gray who apparently had been teased at his lack of goal scoring but went on to notch his first senior hat trick. On that subject, one desperately hopes that Blues don’t take the Chinese equivalent of the Queen’s Shilling to address short term issues without a thought to the future.
Turning around at 4-1, it got even better when Shinnie danced through to score with a delightful finish at the near post. Undoubtedly, the time has come for me to buy a millinery business to allow me to do full justice to the hat eating that I owe the Scottish will o’ the wisp.
Could things get even better? The answer was in the affirmative with a Cotterill free kick although Reading never gave up the ghost (and who would do with an angry Nigel Adkins waiting in the wings?).
The scene was then set for the return of the Serbian prodigal son and, to the adulatory cries of “Ohhhh Nikola Zigic”, he made a cameo appearance. Maybe I was kidding myself but he looked sharper in the air winning all his headers and looked generally more mobile. It was just a shame that he was playing the role of the most advanced forward when he needed somebody to run onto his knock ons. However that’s being a bit churlish when we were all in (next to) seventh heaven.
As the game drew to a close, I turned around to a fellow season ticket holder who had witnessed the Bournemouth disaster and said, “This is the least we deserve.” Play offs anyone?
