Tonight Johno’s youngsters faced Alton as they looked to go thirteen games unbeaten. Thirteen is synonymous with bad luck and that very nearly rang true in North Hampshire with Alton giving us a late scare in this five-goal encounter.

As the City Express rolled into North Hampshire with the hope of extending our unbeaten run to thirteen, it could be said that luck wasn’t on our side as Johno had a slightly depleted squad, with only twelve players to call upon. Our youngsters however remain spurred on by a recent pre-match talk in which Johno told them to treat every game as if it were a cup final.

After a relatively slow start to the game with the ball spending the majority of the time in the middle of park. City eventually found the opening goal with twenty minutes on the clock thanks to Will Norton, earning his second goal of the season.

That goal appeared to give City a much needed spring in their step and as we past the half hour mark, top goalscorer Lucas Taplin scored to extend our lead to two.

The referee brought the first half to a close and the City express was full steam ahead.

HALF-TIME: Alton 0 v Reading City 2 

With the teams out for the second half, proceedings once again got underway in North Hampshire.

As we approached the hour mark, Johno who only had twelve players to call upon this evening made his first and only change by swapping Lucas Taplin for Archie Simpson.

Captain Jay Herbert found our third goal of the evening to extend our lead to 0-3 with sixty seven minutes on the clock.

With seventy two minutes on the clock, Alton managed to pull a goal back against the run of play.

Our hosts attempting to derail our cup adventure struck once more to reduce the deficit to just one goal with seven minutes of regular time remaining on the clock.

The referee called time on proceedings and City could breathe a sigh of relief as they extend their unbeaten run to thirteen.

Tonight’s win also means that City top the Allied Counties Youth Football League Subsidiary Cup Table following the Group Stages in which we’ve secured four wins from four.

FULL-TIME: Alton 2 v Reading City 3

We now await confirmation of the draw for the next round of the Allied Counties Youth Football League Subsidiary Cup. As soon as we have more information we will issue communications, so please keep an eye on our website and social media platforms.