Plymouth Argyle snatch last gasp winner at Reading FC.
On this day 20 years ago, Reading began one of their most memorable seasons…with defeat.
Almost 17,000 fans packed the then-Madejski Stadium for the first match of the 2005/06 Championship season, and few would have predicted that the Royals would go unbeaten for the next 33 league games and win the title by March.
Leroy Lita and Kevin Doyle made their competitive debuts, Lita with a particularly heavy burden on his shoulders after joining from Bristol City for more than £1 million.
The first goal of the game was scored by Micky Evans, who converted a low cross past Marcus Hahnemann in the first 25 minutes in front of a crowd of nearly 4,000 Pilgrims.
Lita improved after the break and scored his first goal 10 minutes after the restart, heading Bobby Convey’s cross into the net before wheeling away to complete a cartwheel in front of the West Stand.
The Royals were strong after equalising and appeared to be the better of the two sides, but even the introduction of Dave Kitson and Stephen Hunt couldn’t help them gain the lead.
As a result, a fortunate cross-come-shot fell to Nick Chadwick’s feet, who converted low past the American custodian in stoppage time to snatch the three points in front of the ecstatic away fans.
Steve Coppell lamented ‘lazy defending’ in his post-match verdict, while Plymouth manager Bobby Williamson admitted Chadwick and his fellow substitutes were brought on to waste time rather than score.
Three days later, Reading travelled to Brighton and Hove Albion’s Withdean Stadium in the hopes of regaining their winning ways.
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