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VIEW MATCH REPORT

Sunday 29 Jan 2006
Reading 1 Birmingham 1
Reading get a second chance, or should that be Birmingham get a second chance!

This match was always going to be interesting as Championship promotion definates clashed with Premiership relegation maybes in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Reading decided to give most of their first team the afternoon off, with 8 changes from the last Championship match against Crystal Palace.

Birmingham, on the other hand, fielded a side that contained most of the team that thrashed Porstmouth last weekend.

Despite this the Blues new strike pairing of Emile Heskey and Chris Sutton could only manage one header on target between them, though this was largely due to poor service from the midfield.

On 31 minutes Reading took the lead when James Harper put the ball through to Shane Long who fired off a low shot to the left of Birmingham keeper Maik Taylor.

It took a further 36 minutes and the triple substitution of Neil Kilkenny, Mikael Forssell and David Dunn to bring the equaliser. A long throw was met by Sutton who flicked on to Dunn, whose volley found it's way to the back of the Reading net.

Mario Melchiot and Jermaine Pennant both had chances to win the game for Birmingham but a draw was the order of the day.

Steve Coppell summed it up for Reading: "Once we took the lead, it was almost as though we had settled for a 1-0 win, which was fatal, and their goal was due to poor defending on our part."

A replay is really something that neither side could do with, as the main priority for both sides is a Premierhip place next season but a replay at Birmingham it is.