Reading FC Penalty Shootout History

With just 120 minutes available on offer to separate the sides in the 2016/17 Championship play-off final next week, we thought it'd be prescient to look at how Reading have fared in penalty shootouts since their introduction, with the Royals having a positive record over the years.

According to data taken from a Daily Mail article in 2015 plus a whole bunch of HobNob match reports; Reading have a record of won six, lost four in shootouts.

Of those ten, we've picked out a few memorable ones to pore over for clues with five coming in the League Cup and another couple coming in the FA Cup (let us know if you can remember the couple we've not been able to find).

Much like our Wembley history, our best shoot-out moment came in one of, if not our first. Michael Gilkes scoring late, late into the night at Elm Park to dispatch Coventry in the semi-finals of the Simod Cup, to send us gleefully to play at the national stadium for the first time.

Jump forward ten years to 1998 and an FA Cup fourth round replay with Cardiff City, a 1-1 draw thanks to a superlative display from goalkeeper Nicky Hammond (remember him?) and the future transfer chief denied the first two penalties for the visitors to Elm Park's last FA Cup match before Carl Asaba and Phil Parkinson fluffed their lines at two up.

Nevertheless, at 4-3, Hammond made his third save to earn the Royals the right of a late defeat at Sheffield United in the following round.

Fast forward to Reading's first Madejski Stadium penalty shootout and the Leage Cup tie with Premier League West Ham on September 11, 2001. An entertaining 0-0, so to speak, the Hammers led when James Harper had ex-Royal Shaka Hislop save his spot-kick. However, Jermain Defoe and Scott Minto proceeded to miss to allow for Adi Viveash to seal a 6-5 win in front of over 21,000 fans. Skip to 8:08 of the below clip.

At the other end of the scale was the lifeless FA Cup replay at home to Walsall in 2003, a 1-1 draw which saw the hosts fail with two spot-kicks - thanks to messrs Martin Butler and Harper (again) - as the Midlanders secured a 4-1 win.

Fast forward to 2006/07 and the Premier League side failing to bypass a divisional minnow were the Royals, scraping to a 3-3 League Cup draw against a Julian Joachim-inspired Darlington. Stephen Hunt sent Reading on their way (below) and despite a Kevin Doyle miss, Steve Coppell's side progressed to the tune of a 4-2 scoreline.

With Reading back to being a Championship side, they faced up to Stoke in the same competition in September 2008 off the back of James Henry bagging a brace in normal time at Britannia Stadium. And yet it was the winger who couldn't convert his effort in the 4-2 shootout loss, which was confirmed when Leroy Lita stepped up to blast his penalty over the bar.

A genuine lowpoint for the club arrived in August 2010 as a puny Mad Stad crowd watched the Royals struggle to a 2-2 draw with Northampton in the League Cup second round. Youngsters Simon Church and Jake Taylor missed their penalties and Ben Hamer was beaten in all four of the away side's for a 4-2 defeat.

Most recently there was some joy for the Berkshire club though as Jaap Stam oversaw a penalty triumph versus MK Dons in this season's League Cup. Once again the shootout ended up 4-2, Callum Harriott missing his potentially decisive penalty before Jordan Obita sealed the victory.

So will we need penalties against Huddersfield? Vote below.