Royals Standard: Great promise but only points matter

THERE is still no beating a penalty shoot out for proper sporting drama. Regardless of whether it’s a World Cup semi-final, or the second round of the League Cup late on a Tuesday night in Reading, for wholly absorbing intrigue it remains unparalleled in sport.

On Tuesday evening at the SCL Reading’s youngsters courageously took the game the full 98 minutes. Two 18-year-olds led the front line against an in-form Ipswich team doing well in The Championship so far this season. 2-2 at the final whistle meant the second round Carabao Cup game would be settled by spot kicks.

Harvey Knibbs was the only Reading player to score, of the four who stepped up. A couple of shots were blazed over the bar and another was saved, so Ipswich won 3-1 and that was it for this season’s League Cup campaign.

Disappointing, yes, but it had still been a thoroughly entertaining clash, and everybody left the ground feeling like they had got good bang for their buck.

Penalty shoot outs are great because all that effort of everyone all boils down to a single kick. All that huffing and puffing for 90 minutes, all those tactics, all the effort and energy, turn out to be irrelevant. It’s all about who can keep their cool and slot home a shot from 12 yards.

There is something magnificently reassuring watching top players take penalties. Many of us who have played at only far lower levels would fancy our chances, and yet there are saves, spectacular misses and woeful fails.

It turns out these finely tuned professional athletes are only human after all.

For those of us fascinated by psychology and the way the brain works, the real joy of a shoot out comes from watching the players dealing with pressure. How mentally strong are they? What is their routine? What does their body language say? Who can cope with the nerves and anxiety, and who crumbles? It’s a sports psychologist’s dream ten minutes, with everything they espouse crammed in.

Now the old cliché about being able to concentrate on the league kicks in. They play Cambridge United next Monday evening and then face Bolton on September 16. With only two games in three weeks there certainly cannot be any grumbles about being over-worked.

Despite the excitement of seeing a whole raft of good young players emerge, and some extremely promising performances, ultimately Reading have five points from five games. Go at a point a game for the season and you will be relegated come May.

This time last year Reading were on 12 points and top of The Championship, and they still got relegated.

Once the transfer window has closed this Friday evening, manager Ruben Selles will be clear who he has in his squad to work with. In the best case, a couple of senior players will have eased financial pressures by leaving, and a couple more reliable young players will have joined. Then they need to convert promise into points.