Lowe-comotion comes to a shuddering half, Preston fan John Smith was hugely disappointed by result on Saturday

Reading were a team in total chaos both on and off the pitch following a run of eight successive league defeats before their midweek draw with fellow strugglers Peterborough.

On the strength of this, together with talk of the play-offs in the wintry air, I made my way into the stadium full of optimism.

There was also the return of home fans to the Kop with the club’s reduced ticket prices and marketing campaign to encourage everyone to get “All aboard the Lowe-Comotive.”

As ever though it is always the hope that kills you and following this disappointing defeat, I fear some of the returning fans will have already decided to step off the Lowe-Comotive at its next available stop.

It did not take long for my pre-match optimism to disappear down the swanny when Reading took the lead after just 70 seconds before going on to double it inside the games opening 20 minutes.

In the first half our performance was weary and we gave the ball away far too frequently and also created very little in way of chances apart from a shocking miss by Emil Riis and I personally thought the visitors were good value for their half-time lead.

In the opening minutes of the second half my man-of-the-match Daniel Iversen made two more fantastic saves before he was eventually beaten for a third time and all looked lost at this point.

It was pleasing that we showed spirit and a never-say-die attitude in soon pulling a goal back through Daniel Johnson before Cameron Archer gave us hope of a comeback when he hit the target to set up a grandstand finish.

Unfortunately, we had set ourselves too difficult of a task to pull back a three -goal deficit and eventually time ran out. As the referee blew his final whistle I felt like a losing contestant on Bradley Walsh’s quiz show who had just heard the words of his catchphrase “For you the chase is over”.

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