Poor Royals go down to Tractor Boys

Reading were sunk by two second half goals at Portman Road as Ipswich Town won comfortably by 2 goals to nil. New signing Jon Stead opened the scoring for the home side with a stunning 20 yard shot after an hour, and Reading's misery was compounded when Jonathan Walters headed in with five minutes to go. Overall Reading deserved nothing from the contest, despite Jimmy Kebe missing a good chance in the 9th minute and Noel Hunt hitting the bar late on.

So with five games gone we have just one point from nine away from home. Very few would have expected us to have another season like 05/06, but we've already lost the same amount of games that we did over the course of that whole season. At home we look pretty useful: confident, scoring goals and playing some decent stuff. It's a different story away from home and it's a concern. The one big problem continues to be the lack of a strong midfield player who can make a tackle, get stuck in and break down moves; the truth remains we have never properly replaced Steve Sidwell and as a consequence we often look lightweight and get overrun in the middle of the park. The other matter is Shane Long, he was poor again today but continues to keep Noel Hunt  out of the team, it doesn't make sense. 

We need to improve quickly.