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Well that was fun wasn’t it. A long trip up to Nottingham - for most - all for the game to be called off for a waterlogged pitch at around midday, leaving a lot of fans who had travelled either stranded in Nottingham for a few hours or having to make the exact same journey they had just made.
A lot of fans were left angered and bemused at how - in this day and age - a game in the second tier of English football can be called off for a waterlogged pitch. On the face of it, that seems like a plausible thing to be angered at, but take into account the fact that the City Ground is right on the bank of an already flooded River Trent and you can get some sort of explanation for the waterlogged pitch.
That doesn’t make fans any less frustrated; I’m sure every fan was eager and excited to watch Mark Bowen’s team play again after the last two positive results - a win against Preston and a point away at QPR, both very good results indeed.
But now we have to wait another week before Millwall come to the Mad Stad on Saturday afternoon to try and continue the upturn in form and performances in the last few weeks - which is certainly a good opportunity to do so.
But, as I said, the fans were frustrated and angered that Saturday’s game was called off - and rightly so. However, a few fans did take the opportunity to see the more light-hearted side and take a few digs at Nottingham Forest - the word tinpot was flown about quite a lot. Here’s the best of the fans reactions to the news on Twitter...
Ah well lads had a nice 45 minutes at Leicester Forest services #readingfc
— Bowen SZN (@rfc_1871) October 26, 2019
Nottingham forest are a team playing in the championship 2019 and their pitch still can't handle a little water. Get off, they're scared. @ReadingFC #readingfc
— Joel (@Jcripps15) October 26, 2019
Tinpottingham Forest #readingfc
— Lee Wyeth (@leewyeth) October 26, 2019
Forest away postponed, Maidenhead it is #readingfc
— Kieran Wylie (@Kingkj39) October 26, 2019
Nottingham Forest? More like Nottingham Deforestation.
— Imran Escőbar (@razor5edge) October 26, 2019
(Greta Thunberg would be proud of this one)#readingfc #nffc
Good to see Forest were so scared of us they bottled it and got the sprinklers on the pitch all night...the Bowen effect #readingfc
— Andy C (@RoyalBearC) October 26, 2019
So EFL say 20 percent of the pitch was unplayable which led to the game being called off. Still no excuses for it to be called off. A team with the money and facilities such as Forest should have suitable drainage #readingfc
— Jack (@thesimpsonRFC) October 26, 2019
Tin pot forest just scared of the ding #ReadingFC pic.twitter.com/HotUMrBpkf
— Will RFC ⚪️ (@willsumner09) October 26, 2019
With Boye, Joao and Meite out, not playing today isn’t all bad. That said, I hear Forest had injuries too #readingfc
— Paulo (@Paulo_1871) October 26, 2019
Seen a lot of forest fans blaming it on the river Trent but does that not make it easier to drain water and the game 4 miles away took place so can’t blame the weather very strange ♂️ #readingfc
— RFC Opinions (@Jonjo41629224) October 26, 2019
Only tinpots like notts forest have a pitch without drainage #NFFC #Readingfc https://t.co/i8rMmrlSJb
— Luke (@gibbsey517) October 26, 2019
Notts Forest should be thrown out of the Football League. Imagine not having a football pitch capable of withstanding a little bit of rain! They are such a basic little club who are going absolutely nowhere. #readingfc #NFFC
— Nath St Paul (@NathStPaul) October 26, 2019
Conclusion
So, a shorter fans verdict than usual, for obvious reasons. I wish I was talking about how we’ve sealed another positive result under Bowen, but evidently Mother Nature had other ideas...
In serious terms though - the players will be just as gutted as the fans as when you are on a decent little run, confidence builds and you just want to keep playing and playing, so a weekend without a game will have annoyed the players - but hopefully not knocked them off their stride too much.
Two very winnable home games coming up next now with Millwall and Luton Town the next two visitors to Berkshire, so hopefully the lads can crack on and get us something to cheer about.
URZ