Championship Game 25: READING 1 CARDIFF CITY 1

Cardiff City gained a perfectly acceptable draw at high fliers Reading in front of a sold out 3,200 travelling Bluebirds in full vocal form but were denied what would have been a deserved and fantastic victory in the harshest possible way - Reading equalised with the game's last kick in the 6th minutes of 4 minutes added time by their goalkeeper who has come up for a corner kick in desperation!

Kevin McNaughton had thankfully recovered from a knock in last weekend's victory over Sheffield Wednesday but there was a double shock of sorts on the bench as Peter Whittingham returned to the fold unannounced less than halfway through his expected three month injury lay off and club captain Darren Purse was bombed from the squad as they sought to extend their 6 match unbeaten run with the toughest test possible. Eddie Johnson was also on the bench at the expense of Riccy Scimeca.

CITY: Enckleman; McNaughton-Johnson-Gypes-Kennedy; Routledge-Rae-Ledley-Parry; Bothroyd-Chopra. Subs were Heaton-Comminges-Johnson Eddie, McPhail-Whittingham.

Reading are the division's form side. Predicted by many to be in the frame for auto-promotion, they are a side City aim to catch but went into this clash flying with 5 successive wins including a 3-1 hammering of Birmingham on the St Andrews sides own patch to propel them into 2nd spot. The home form was fantastic - 10 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat with 31 goals scored and only 7 conceded before today.

They were able to name a full strength side. READING: Federici; Rosenior-Ingimarsson-Duberry- Armstrong, Henry-Harper-Cisse-Stephen Hunt; Noel Hunt-Doyle.

On a crisp, sunny and blue skied Boxing Day, the home side had a season's best 22,770 crowd but it was those 3,200 Bluebirds making, by far, the most noise and creating the game's atmosphere. They were rewarded by City being at their battling best in a first half where they defended the goal in front of them which turned into an uncompromising battle. Five players were booked including Roger Johnson and Michael Chopra for City as no quarter was given.

The Royals set out to establish authority from the start and had City penned in and around their own penalty area for the first 10 minutes in a ferocious opening but once they had calmly weathered it, the Bluebirds settled down to play composed and controlled football and, by the interval, had arguably shaded it. Chances were few, City were resolute and superbly marshalled by Johnson, Gypes and Enckleman at the back while McNaughton was putting in a king-sized shift.

At the other end, the longer the game went on, the more City got forward and they had the game's biggest chance not long before the interval as Routledge set Chopra free, his first touch let him down and he collided with Federici on what became a 50/50 earning his yellow card.

The second half carried on in the same battling mood but City were now playing the better football and had managed to stem Reading's steady stream of crosses and were now looking the better side. That was underlined as Steve Coppell threw on a double sub on the hour to try to change the game but it had little impact.

City's qualities were underlined as Roger Johnson took a terrible knock with the game entering the final 20 minutes. With Purse no on the bench, it looked as though McNaughton would have to be pressed as a centre-half and Comminges was set to come on but Roger was having none of it and returned to the fold, what a leader and hero that man is.

Cardiff almost scored with 15 to go as Joe Ledley's 30 yarder caught Federici off his line but cleared the bar by inches then, it went ballastic, as they took an 89th minute lead. City were applying pressure around the Reading box, Routledge, the game's smallest player, somehow won a header in a crowded box and there was MICHAEL CHOPRA to swivel and turn home. A fantastic moment duly celebrated.

Four minutes of added time were signalled and City played them well. A small injury saw that extended but as a Reading effort went wide, expectations were that Enckleman would take a goal kick and that would be it. However he sliced the ball and Reading won one final corner kick. Federici, the keeper came up for it.

With 1 player taking the corner and the other 21 in and around City's area, the ball came over, a City chest blocked one effort on the line but FEDERICI incredibly managed to get up off the ground and force home the rebound.

It was a sickener for Cardiff, certainly undeserved and the most unbelievably cruel way for the game to end. Reading and their players were ecstatic and I suppose it shows how far we have come these past few weeks for their crowd to celebrate grabbing a last gasp draw against us.

City remained 5th, 1 point ahead of the chasing pack and 9 points behind an auto-promotion spot in extending their unbeaten run to 7 games. It is ironic that after playing Reading at home little more than a month ago, they face them again n 8 days - this time in a Ninian Park F.A. Cup tie. Before that however, with less than 48 hours rest, comes a Sunday afternoon clash with Plymouth.