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Huddersfield Town Fans Verdict: Bore Draw At The Mad Stad

Royals fans were left bored and frustrated after the stalemate against Huddersfield.

After the relentless excitement from the Loyal Royals after the 5-0 drubbing of Luton Town on Saturday afternoon, it was a big crash back down to earth on Tuesday night as Reading and Huddersfield played out one of the dullest 0-0 draws I can remember.

We’ve had our fair share of boring games in recent times, the two most recent trips to Stoke the first that spring to mind, but because the Huddersfield game came straight after one of the most exciting games in recent memory, it probably tops the lot as being the most boring, and disappointing.

It was really frustrating to see the performance level drop so considerably against the Terriers. We were really, really sloppy and hardly created any clear cut chances. On a positive though, the back four were again absolutely fantastic - particularly Tom McIntyre who is really relishing a run in the first team which I'm sure is brilliant to see for every Reading fan.

It was also odd to see how long Bowen waited to make changes. The game was dying for someone to come on who could pick out a pass and really run at defenders, however he waited until the 86th minute to make his second and third substitute - which puzzled the large majority of the fanbase.

Here's how the fans reacted to some of the key talking points...

Tom McIntyre and Gabriel Osho

They have both waited very patiently for their chance in the first team this season, but boy are they taking it now.

They were both brilliant against Luton, and arguably even better on Tuesday night against Huddersfield. Looking past the frustrations of our attacking, we were once again very very good defensively against the Terriers - and that is largely due to the mature performances put in by both Osho and McIntyre.

Hopefully now they both start to really kick on from the last couple of games, because if they do, we have two really talented defenders at our disposal.

Everyone loves academy player coming through, and they love it even more when there’s two! Here’s how the fans reacted to their performances on Twitter after the game...

Tactical Decisions

Not for the first time, Bowen’s tactical decisions came under a bit of criticism on Tuesday evening. Firstly, the decision to start Jordan Obita in place of the injured Ovie Ejaria was a strange call with Michael Olise probably the better like-for-like replacement.

Then, the manager waited until the 86th minute to make a second substitution - in a game that was crying out for a Lucas Boye or a Garath McCleary to come on and try tp create something, that decision seemed very, very odd and surprised a fair few of the fanbase.

There is no real reason for not making the changes earlier, we weren’t playing very well at all. Was it stubbornness from Bowen? Naivety? I guess that’s a matter of opinion, but the fans certainly were a bit confused...

Boredom

It was the dullest 90 minutes of football I can remember. Neither team looked like they wanted to go out and win the game, which is probably more understandable from the visitors’ perspective - but from our point of view, it’s really poor that we haven’t done more to try and win the game.

The fans were left confused, frustrated but above all else, utterly bored. There was no creativity, spirit or recognisable effort from either team to try and get on the ball - it just looked like two very average teams cancelling each other out.

Unfortunately, when Bowen isn’t winning, his style of football really isn't the most pleasing on the eye - and that’s something the fans have noticed more and more throughout the season. Does the Welshman need to tweak his style of play?

The fans were left praying that we aren’t subjected to many more games of that nature, showing their frustration on Twitter after the game...

Conclusion

90 minutes we will never get back.

Horrible crash down to earth after the unbelievable high of Saturday afternoon. Hopefully we get a reaction on Saturday against Charlton, another team who are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table - it’s not going to be easy, and if we’re not careful we will find ourselves on the end of another bad result.

URZ