572: Aaron Connolly and Dom Ballard, Leyton Orient and 630: Joel Pereira and Kelvin Abrefa, Reading and Panini EFL 2025/26 Sticker Collection

It’s amazing what a global pandemic, several boxes of old football stuff and Peter Fear’s curtains can do but, 399 posts after an attempt to stay sane, here we all are. Throughout this time the UK has had four Prime Ministers, two monarchs and economic twists and turns that mean buying a Freddo now probably requires a mortgage. In the footballing world England’s men have reached two consecutive European Championship finals while the Lionesses have won two consecutive European Championships, Leicester City and Crystal Palace have won the FA Cup and Watford have had fifteen different managers. Plenty of other stuff has happened too and whether or not any of us here has remained sane is probably best put to our long suffering partners, children and friends.

When live football was taken away from us its absence convinced the four of us that we really missed it. This ignores the fact that my attendance at Selhurst Park since Palace returned to the Premier League is worse even than my appearance record at church and that, for various reasons, I’ve felt a bit disconnected from the Eagles over the last decade or so. As anyone of our vintage knows getting four blokes in the same place at the same time these days is nigh on impossible but we got pretty close the other week. As far as excuses for missing out go Mat’s mercy dash to Taiwan is about as valid as it gets and, buoyed by our experiences, there’s every chance we will sort something equally questionable out soon. More on that in a bit. Over to Emlyn with the match report which, thanks to team selection, doesn’t even feature two of the blokes in the stickers below. I’m sure Kelvin Abrefa and Aaron Connolly are gutted to miss out.

Back in the early era of the blog, in the heady nascent days of COVID-19, we collectively tore ourselves away from watching Chris Whitty's slides and drinking weird beer ordered from Yorkshire to have some video chats. Even that early in the blog's life, we excitedly planned what we would do when the world opened up again, and resolved to get ourselves to a live game 'as soon as we were able'.

A mere six years later we managed to actually identify a game to attend with Leyton Orient hosting, the team I support, Reading. Although unfortunately we were not quite all able to attend, Rich, Manny and I met up in the Cart and Horses pub ahead of the game to catch up and enjoy the signed pictures of Blaze Bayley. A quick wander to the ground, and a slightly less quick circuit of the stadium trying to find our gate, and we were sat down to watch what was the first Reading league game I had attended in the best part of a decade.

It's been a while now, and the likelihood of returning is looking vanishingly small with each passing season, but, with Reading having spent a few years this century as a Premier League side, some in the division still look upon the team as a significantly more notable scalp than would have been the case some twenty years ago. Having spent the bulk of my life bouncing between the second and third tiers, the brief years having our highlights on TV before midnight were a lot of fun, but the reality now is somewhat different; with severe financial problems over the past few years resulting in multiple points deductions, with the club now sitting in a fairly non-threatening mid-table position in League One. Although the ownership saga has now been resolved, our signings continue to be mainly formed of loans and low or non-existent transfer fees.

One of the loanees at the club during our leaner years was also playing in this game; Dom Ballard, who had joined in September 2023, loaned in from Southampton. Ballard had international pedigree, having played for the England youth setup at every age level from under-17 to under-20. He looked a reasonable prospect, managing three goals in ten games, however, a snapped patellar tendon in November saw his time in Berkshire cut short, and he moved on to another couple of loan spells with Blackpool and Cambridge United over the next two seasons, managing only three goals. Surely he wouldn't pose too much of a threat.

Reading Goalkeeper Joel Pereira had other ideas, flapping fairly non-convincingly at a couple of crosses and being beaten on two occasions within the first half, fortunate to see both ruled out by the officials. Ballard had put the ball in the net on both occasions, so perhaps his luck wasn't in on the day?

Just before half time, Ballard struck a shot from range which flew into the net, and although Reading equalised early in the second, he managed to complete a hat-trick over the course of the game, meaning he had found the net five times in total. Reading tend to suffer when playing against former players (looking at you, Leroy Lita), and Ballard joined the club in fine style. He has had a much better season with Orient, and it would be nice to see him move up the pyramid, in the style of recent sales like Sam Smith or Michael Olise. If only because we won't have to face him again, lest he manages to stick ten in the net next time. It's tough to say how Reading will get on over the next couple of seasons, but as we mentioned in the Leyton Engineer pub after the game ("Home fans only! Are you Orient fans?" .... "Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah"), it's not implausible that the next time we all meet up, it could be for Reading against Grimsby Town. Fingers crossed for such a glamour tie. Over to Rich on the unique beauty of Brisbane Road.

As alluded to, live football has been at a premium. A pandemic? Becoming a parent? Your team’s ground being a seven-hour round trip from your front door? That’d do it. 

Once we had decided on a visit to Brisbane Road, I felt it would be an appropriate reintroduction to watching games without having to listen to Gary Neville, Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher twat on in the most inane manner possible. I have spent my life watching Grimsby Town from the Championship down to the National League, so I have seen most types of ground; from Blackburn Rovers, home of the old Premier League champions to Ebbsfleet United, home of the old Eurostar. Having visited such an array of grounds, I assumed I had seen it all, but Orient’s ground was a curious affair. For example, I have never attended a football match at a ground that seems to have an STD clinic built into it. Similarly, I haven’t been to a ground that had been overrun by a swarm of new build flats. The oddity of this was best highlighted by the fact that there was a plant pot with some out of season geraniums resting on a balcony a mere 10-15ft from the pitch. It was probably stranger than Bolton Wanderers’ Burnden Park having a supermarket taking up half a terrace. 

Another oddity of Brisbane Road was the little Domino’s Pizza shack located in the corner of the pitch. This is the official description on the Orient website (this is the most “of course, it is in bloody London” thing I have read in a while) of the curious addition:

"The Third Dugout is the most immersive way to experience a game at Leyton Orient. Located pitchside in the north-east corner of the stadium, the Domino's Third Dugout can seat up to eight guests. Your seats in the dugout are situated just a couple of metres away from the corner flag, which allows you to get as close as possible to the action. What’s more, as well as absorbing the matchday experience from this unique vantage point, all guests will receive a pizza delivered straight to your lap at half time, making for a truly unique experience. Please note, the Third Dugout is only available to home fans. The Club reserves the right to refuse or revoke admission to any guests not following this restriction."

And we just thought it was there to cook up Reading’s overweight centre forward, Jack Marriott, a half-time Meat Feast and curly fries.

Because of these quirks, not despite them, I really liked Brisbane Road. It is a ground in the heart of the community and near two good pubs. When you have that, you don’t really need anything else. Over to Manny for some more takeaways (but no more pizzas).

It’s hard to pick a single highlight from our trip to Brisbane Road. I enjoyed the arrival of Berkshire’s bother boys (average age fifteen) at Leyton Underground and their courteous recycling of their pre-match Buzzballz in the Coronation Gardens bins. Joel Pereira’s commitment to all the tropes of continental goalkeeping over actual competence provided plenty of entertainment and also explained why he only made three appearances in six years at Manchester United. Dom Ballard looks like someone capable of doing very well for himself in the future via the Orient springboard and while he may not be the next Harry Kane he might follow the likes of Charlie Kelman and Ethan Galbraith into the second tier in the not too distant future.

What was perhaps most enjoyable about the day was that it reminded me of all I love about football. Despite taking ineptitude to strange new places Reading remain in touching distance of the League One play-offs while Orient, who were excellent value for their 3-1 win, are looking nervously over their shoulders. Anyone can beat anyone on their day and while this particular match made very little difference to the state of play in the third tier it provided a great reminder of how much fun a hard fought game can be. It looked, felt and sounded like my childhood memories of equally inconsequential Palace victories over the likes of Crewe Alexandra and Norwich City even down to the needlessly lengthy walk to the ground. Most of all it was the opportunity to chat nonsense with two of my best mates about everything and nothing under the pretence of a love of bang average football. Same time in six years lads?