Blackpool 1-1 Reading FC: Instant Reaction

Let's not waste much time with this because this season lurches from simply poor to disasterous on a weekly basis.

Steve Clarke signalled his intent by making four changes, including starts for Yakubu and Zat Knight, neither of whom we hope and pray are at the club next season.

It took just five minutes for that thought process to be vindicated as Knight clumsily fouled Gary Madine in the area to give Blackpool a penalty. Jamie O'Hara (remember him?) stepped up and converted to give the basement dwellers the lead.

If you thought that such a goal might have woken Reading up, then well you've not watched Reading much this year have you? No instead Yak led the line about as effectively as an actual Yak and Reading barely had a chance in the first period.

Half-time saw Steve Clarke finally wake up and bring on Pavel Pogrebnyak and Jamie Mackie for Kwesi Appiah & Garath McCleary and that was rewarded instantly as Pog created a chance for Yak that went in off Grant Hall.

From that point on both teams struggled in vain to produce any sort of quality and at full time Reading have mustered a grand total of TWO shots on target against a team that had conceded 79 goals in 40 games before tonight.

This season can't end soon enough and with Steve Clarke possessing a worse PPG average than Nigel Adkins, it's safe to say that the former Chelsea coach's honeymoon is well and truly over.

The lone positive is that we're now 10 points clear of the drop zone with just six games remaining and that is just about the only positive I can muster.

We'll have a full dissection of where it went wrong later this week so keep an eye on the front page.