Derby 0-4 Reading: Royals relegated despite victory

By Mike Walters 12/05/2008

On a glorious afternoon for blubbing into your replica shirt, the trail of bitter tears followed relegated Reading away from Pride Park.

And five minutes after the Royals' nosedive into the Championship was confirmed, Steve Coppell emerged from the tunnel to acknowledge 3,000 travelling fans in a gesture which looked suspiciously like a manager waving goodbye.

Hobbling chairman John Madejski, still on crutches after breaking his ankle on Easter Monday, lifted Coppell's arm like a boxing referee announcing a prizefighter's victory on points.

But for all Coppell's explanations that it was merely a thank-you gesture, it was the body language of a man taking the final curtain at a club he can take no further.

Reading are going down for a variety of reasons: the horrid run of eight games without a point, 566 minutes without a goal until yesterday's cakewalk, those damaging 7-4 and 6-4 defeats at Portsmouth and Tottenham.

Reading have come a long way since leaving behind the Victorian slum called Elm Park, but ultimately Coppell's admirable team weren't good enough over 38 games.

We should never have doubted them yesterday because Derby played like the worst team in Premier League history, which is exactly what they are. At 5.13pm, with thousands of fans on the pitch expecting a curtain call from Paul Jewell's disgraced rabble, a public address announcement informed them: "Derby County will not be coming out this afternoon."

In fairness, it made no difference because the Rams didn't show up for the prescribed 90 minutes anyway.

They have been such an embarrassment their player of the season gong was awarded to 1975 title-winning skipper Roy McFarland on behalf of 30,000 long-suffering fans.

Even with Royals coach Kevin Dillon's tactless pre-match comment - "We don't deserve to stay up if we can't beat Derby" - pinned to every wall in the dressing room for motivation, Derby were useless from back to front.

But Reading's nosedive into the bottom three, after missing out on a UEFA Cup place by just one goal 12 months ago, warrants further inspection.

Had they matched chairman Madejski's cast of showbiz guests - including Chris Tarrant - in the directors' box for home games with a bit more millionaire stardust on the pitch, Reading would not have needed to phone a friend or ask the audience for updates from Fratton Park yesterday.

As it transpired, Dillon was right: Coppell's side could not have wished for more accommodating hosts.

And once James Harper had scored their first goal in 9hr 26 min of barren scuffling, this charade petered out as a contest and Reading's hope of salvation was in the hands of others. Leroy Lita had already squandered two decent chances before Harper, afforded generous space, curled a sublime left-foot shot beyond Roy Carroll from 18 yards.

Knowing Portsmouth's 23rd shutout of the season against Fulham would be enough to keep them up, the travelling fans broke into a chorus of "Play up, Pompey."

Derby's resistance was so pitiful it took them 40 minutes to register a shot worthy of the name, Marcus Hahnemann calmly tipping David Jones' long-range daisy-cutter to safety.

Hope sprang eternal for Coppell when Carroll parried Nicky Shorey's shot and Dave Kitson prodded home his10th goal of the season from Lita's cut-back.

When substitute Doyle ended his goal drought three minutes after climbing off the bench, Reading were 21 minutes from springing the escape hatch.

Then the news filtered through from Portsmouth of Fulham's bust out of Alcatraz, and the last 15 minutes, including Lita's diving header in stoppage time, were meaningless.

Not for the first time this season, Jewell was disgusted with his side's woeful surrender.

"Complete embarrassment," he hissed before another public address announcement interrupted his postmortem.

"Derby supporters on the pitch should exit the pitch via the northeast corner," said the jobsworth.

Quick as a flash, Jewell replied: "Can you say that to the players as well?

"Based on what I've seen, none of them could have any arguments if they weren't here next season."