A fine tradition continued

A couple of months ago on this blog, I described what I termed "The Reading Way". Summing it up succinctly, I put it that each club has their own way of doing things and going about their business. Part of the Reading way was to put their fans through the wringer and to induce despair wherever possible.

As a result for all the last day heartbreak whether it was in regard to relegation battle failures (Derby '08) or play off final calamities ('95 or '01), Reading fans had developed a kind of self defence mechanism of refusing to believe that success was around the corner as the Reading way is to promise you that success but then have it snatched away at the very end.

This phenomenon is well explained here over at the wonderful Tilehurst End blog, examining the differences in the hopes that different generations of Reading fans had for the game yesterday. Broadly speaking, those fans who had been to Wembley or Cardiff before were much more pessimistic about our chances than those who hadn't. Once bitten and all that.

However, I'm sure even those fans that suffered the twin heartbreaks of Bolton and Walsall, were drawn into believing that maybe, just maybe, the mother of all play-off final comebacks was on when Matt Mills smashed home his header to make it 3-2 with 25 minutes to play yesterday afternoon.

However once again, the Reading way was in evidence. Even the most pessimistic of fans was drawn into the tantalising story arc that we were about to put away all those horrible play-off memories in the most glorious way possible. The optimists and the pessimists, the new fans and the old, the wet-behind-the-ears and the grizzled-seen-it-all-'super'fan' were united in this searing new found belief that the comeback was on.

But the Reading way was reasserted, the hope was taken away. Perhaps it was the moment Jem Karacan's deflected shot cannoned off the post and Noel Hunt couldn't stick away the rebound. Perhaps it was the slow reassertion of themselves on the game by Swansea after Darren Pratley came on. It was certainly the ball hitting the back of the net for that fourth Swansea goal. Whatever time it was, the faintest of faintest hopes that Reading generated in those 20 minutes after the break, was snatched away, leaving the game to be filed under 'Play-off misery'; the right post of the West stand Wembley goal was destined to join Tony Rougier's head and Stuart Lovell's right boot in the Reading FC play-off final hall of infamy.

The fairest result was the one which the game ended; we were second best for 70 minutes and made to look very average by a team that were simply better than us both on the day and throughout the season. We were even lucky to finish with 10 men after Zurab Khishanishvilli's foolish trip on Nathan Dyer for the first penalty wasn't punished with a second yellow card. No blame on the referee can be used here. We were done for pace on countless occasions and our inspirations during the second half of the season (Shane Long and Jimmy Kebe) couldn't make their quality show after being successfully shackled by the Swansea backline.

This wasn't the same kind of heartbreak experienced in 1995 or 2001 where we were the better team throughout the season than our opponents and cruel misfortunes of fate snatched away glory. This was a heartbreak built on hope rather than expectation; the hope of an exceptional second half of the season and an exhilarating period of 20 minutes at the start of the second half at Wembley and the hope that a team with whom we, the fans, have a connection with (as so many of the 18 players involved yesterday have developed at the club before our eyes) would get a shot at the Premier League and wouldn't be broken up in the style of so many play-off losers before have.

Perhaps it is our fault for being tempted into believing that the impossible might be made possible.

However, I wouldn't have it any other way. These disappointments are what makes a club and what makes a fan base. The hunger and the drive to avoid feeling that low again. The defeat in Cardiff was followed the next season by promotion; losing out on a play-off place at the end of the 2004/05 season (and seeing a promoted Wigan side celebrate at the same time) arguably made the 106 team in 2006. Taking that feeling and channelling it into something positive; make it happen next year boys and then it's another element to add to the unique 'Reading way'.