Marlow 1-2 Reading U21s: Berks & Bucks Cup Champions

First-half goals from Jeremiah Okine-Peters and Adrian Akande were enough to send Reading home with silverware.

In the face of everything that's been thrown Reading's way in 2023/24, teams from across the club have outdone themselves. They've done us all proud. The men's and women's sides both secured league survival, and now the under-21s have brought silverware home. The Royals are Berks & Bucks Cup champions, and I'm so very proud of this group's achievement. They're a massive credit to Reading Football Club.

And they had to be at their best tonight to get that silverware.

The Berks & Bucks Cup is an intriguing competition, pitting Football League academy teams against senior, albeit non-league ones. More technically able but less experienced youngsters on one side, lower-quality but hardened players on the other.

This evening's opposition, Marlow, had already proven how difficult that match-up can be. Reading went to their Alfred Davis Memorial Ground in the semi-finals of last season's competition, struggled to impose themselves in a gruelling contest, and buckled under the pressure of penalties. Marlow went the distance that year, winning the final.

This time round though, the Royals looked a starkly different outfit. Less in terms of personnel - although, indeed, only four players started both games against Marlow (check team below for info) - but more so collectively.

Reading showed two different aspects to their game tonight, two aspects that were lacking in the previous contest. In the first half the Royals were dominant: controlling possession, keeping Marlow penned back, creating chances and putting two of them away. In the second, Reading stood up doggedly and maturely as the game turned more physical, with more balls into the box and greater pressure to withstand.

The first aspect is prettier and makes up the bulk of the highlights, but the latter is just as important, if not more so. It determines whether you're ready for senior football and, of course, who wins the trophy.

Due to competition rules forbidding Reading from using players that didn't feature in previous rounds, Noel Hunt was obliged to make three changes from the side that beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 on Saturday. Out went Coniah Boyce-Clarke, Matty Carson and Jayden Wareham, with Harvey Collins, Jay Senga and Basil Tuma coming in.

Reading (4-2-3-1): Collins; Ryan, Stickland, Holzman, Clarke; Borgnis, Senga; Akande, Wellens, Okine-Peters; Wareham

Subs: Norcott, Paul, Sackey, Barough, Beacroft

Bold player name: Started the previous game against Marlow

Although Marlow had the first chance of the evening, with a header going wide after a corner was recycled, Reading started the stronger overall. And following a couple of sights of goal - Adrian Akande almost getting in on one occasion and Senga nodding a header over - we had the breakthrough after 10 minutes.

Charlie Wellens created it. He won the ball high off Marlow and, instead of going for goal himself, coolly picked out the run of left-winger Jeremiah Okine-Peters, who slotted home for 1-0.

A few minutes later it was so nearly 2-0. John Ryan, a left-footed full-back playing on the right, sent a dangerous inswinger into the area, and Marlow somehow got the ball clear off the line. It was just one highlight from an excellent performance on Ryan’s part. Besides looking composed and adept in possession, he also got forward effectively throughout the first half, helped by being afforded acres of space numerous times.

On 20 minutes, Reading finally doubled their advantage, and unsurprisingly Ryan was at the heart of it. He was found high up on the right wing by an excellent Louie Holzman crossfield pass, controlled the ball well and charged into the box before being taken down. Penalty. In the absence of Wareham, who converted a spot-kick on Saturday, Adrian Akande did the duty this time.

Reading were dominant for pretty much the entirety of the rest of the half, bossing possession and looking far the likelier to score. Basil Tuma had the best opportunity to make it 3-0, dragging a shot wide after getting in on goal, while an excellent Ryan cross (you may detect a theme here) almost found a teammate, and Okine-Peters had an effort blocked at close range.

Even besides the chances, the Royals were impressive. They had Marlow at arm’s length, knocking the ball around in an expansive contest, not letting the game fall into a more direct and physical back-and-forth, the kind that would have suited our opponents better.

When the game did get more physical before the break, Marlow struggled - to great frustration - to get anything out of the referee. I suspect they thought this young Reading side would have been pushovers, the kind who could be bullied, but - in the first half certainly - they didn’t get things their way.

Then again, Marlow did have a flurry before the interval, causing danger with a couple of set pieces. One forced a stop from Harvey Collins, who had to be alert to scramble across to his right.

It was a taster of what was to come. Marlow came out stronger after the break, showing a lot more positivity and aggression than in a relatively subdued first-half performance. That was helped a tad by a half-time Reading substitution - the more physical John Clarke (left-back) being replaced by the more diminutive Sam Paul (right-back), with Ryan switching flanks - but credit to Marlow for their improvement nonetheless.

Around seven minutes into the half they came desperately close to making it 2-1. A corner from their right dropped in the area but, with the goal gaping, the ball was slammed over the bar.

Shortly after, it was 2-1. A free-kick from around 25 yards or so, just left of centre, was laid off to Curtis, who rifled a low shot into the bottom corner. An excellent strike and one that buoyed Marlow’s players and fans alike. The game was back on.

For a while, Marlow looked well up for the game, getting things their way to a far greater degree than they had done in the first half. Reading were unsettled a tad, unable to boss possession and control the match like previously, with attention turning to withstanding Marlow pressure.

However, withstand that pressure Reading did. The Royals’ back line faced balls into the box from free kicks, corners and long throws, but repelled them all. And then, in the closing quarter of an hour or so, they started to get on the front foot.

Senga was at the heart of a glorious opportunity, charging upfield and cutting through the middle of Marlow. The ball came to Joe Barough, who’d replaced Wellens not long before, he slipped in Akande... but he slid the ball just wide of the post.

There were further chances to come: Michael Stickland rattled the post with a header and Akande fired across goal after Tuma had done a great harrying job in the final third to win the ball. The crucial element in those closing stages was the game management however: Reading were getting upfield, not facing a barrage against their own goal.

After what felt like an age of extra time - with no match clock visible anywhere that I could see - the referee blew his whistle for full-time. Reading had done it.