Due to having their scheduled match against Histon moved to the Thursday night, Bath City were without a game on Saturday and that meant I had a football-free weekend.

Therefore, I made the trip to Berkshire where I watched the mighty Leeds take on the most upper class football club in England – Reading.

As I have not joined Ken Bates’ VIP club, at approximately £5,000 a year, I was unable to get a ticket in the away end with my fellow Leeds fans, so I resorted to sitting with the home supporters. I have sat with the enemy in the past while following Leeds. Once at Cheltenham, which ended in disaster when Leeds lost to a late goal and I was humiliated. Another time at Yeovil where Leeds won, and I was nearly attacked by an angry mob of farmers armed with pitchforks and cattle prods.

Having been to Reading’s ground, The Madejski Stadium, five years ago, I learnt that while adequate parking is offered, it takes literally hours to get out of the car park. Therefore we parked away from the ground. Trouble is, as the stadium is out of the town, we had to walk almost 3 miles from the car – making it a 6 mile round trip. My exercise for both November and December has now been done.

After getting to the ground, I spent almost two hours, freezing cold surrounded by Reading fans. I would have been intimidated, but their support was truly awful. Absolutely no atmosphere was shown from the home supporters. The occasional clap and shout of “jolly good show, old son” from an extremely posh fan in my vicinity was the closest they demonstrated in terms of support.

The Leeds fans on the other hand were superb. They were sat in the opposite side of the stadium and sang for almost the entire game. The fact the majority of them had their shirts off in the subzero temperatures, however, does beg the question “when does excellent support cross the line into madness?”

The game ended 0-0. I was disappointed not to hear the Leeds fans roar, celebrating a goal. Yet I was relived to avoid being surrounded by Reading fans cheering a goal. I was also pleased to see two of my favourite Leeds players for the first time – goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and Argentinian superstar, Luciano Becchio. I was also honoured to see a former Leeds favourite, Ian Hart, although this time he was in a Reading shirt.

While on the topic of Leeds United, the FA Cup draw for the 3rd Round was made today. Leeds were drawn against Simon’s beloved Arsenal. Expect lots of banter on this blog in the lead up to the big match in January.