Saturday saw us travel to Reading City FC in the FA Cup, where unfortunately our recent record in this competition continued with an early exit as a result of a narrow 1-0 defeat.

We were missing a number of senior players for this game, but we were still able to field a very capable squad.

The first half was mostly spent with both sides feeling each other out without over-committing. Tring had the better of the early chances with a low shot from George on 5 mins and a rasping shot from distance by Blake on 10 mins – both saved comfortably. Reading on the other hand forced a great save from Jake on 30mins as he tipped the ball over from a header that seemed destined for the top corner. There wasn’t much else to excite either home supporters or the sizable Tring Army during the rest of the half and 0 – 0 was about right at half time.

Tring started the second half on the from foot and managed to create some attacking momentum, but without creating any clear-cut chances. The introduction Lewis Dixon on 55 mins did inject some pace and additional threat to our attacking play, and he made a couple of really searching runs from wide.

However, despite what seemed like near constant pressure around the hour mark we just could not seem to create the right chance and get the goal our efforts deserved. The home team made a triple substitution on 70 mins to try and alter the momentum. This had a near immediate effect with what turned out to be the winning goal on 72mins. A good cross field ball found one of the substitutes in space who ran on to it and executed a very tidy finish. It was a quality goal for sure, but in reality was the only time our opponents seriously threatened our goal in the second half.

The lads did their best to find an equaliser and worked extremely hard to do so. Whilst the ball did fizz across the goal a couple of times, and the were a number of set pieces in the final 10 mins, we just couldn’t apply the finishing touch. Full time 1-0 to Reading.

We must congratulate Reading for taking their chance and wish them well in the next round – and also thank them for hosting us.

Whilst this was ultimately a very disappointing afternoon, we should focus on the positives. The team really did their level best to get something out of the game and put in a tremendous effort. The general feeling was that, whilst not at our best, we could have perhaps got a result – but it just wasn’t to be. This shouldn’t detract from the excellent start the team have made in the league campaign so far, playing lovely attacking play and securing maximum points. We should be optimistic about things if we make a prompt return to this sort of form. Onwards.