There was only one winner of the drab, dreary goalless draw between Peterborough and Reading. Both clubs seemed resigned to relegation.
Anyone who was crazy enough to watch the entirety of Peterborough’s drab goalless draw with Reading on Wednesday night would likely steadfastly agree that it looked like both clubs are prepared for the Championship drop.
It may be weird to declare the three sides looking almost certain for relegation – the aforementioned Posh and Royals and rock-bottom Barnsley – after each avoided defeat in their most recent fixtures while survival challengers Derby lost 4-1. But witnesses to that midweek massacre on the senses would be hard pressed to find reasons how either of those outfits can lay claim to a place in the second tier for 2022/23.
There were no winners to be had between Darren Ferguson’s and Veljko Paunovic’s sides; Royals fans in particular may have had flashes of PTSD from a decade ago when a late-season 0-0 between themselves and QPR saw both sides relegated from the Premier League. That was a fitting conclusion to respectively disappointing campaigns. The ramifications of this drab draw may not be as immediate, but they felt equally damning for both.
The teams came into this match knowing their opponent represented perhaps their best chance of a victory between now and the end of the season. Neither took their opportunity, nor even came close.
The atmosphere around London Road throughout the match, then at the full-time whistle and in the aftermath of the game was increasingly toxic. Posh fans feel dejected that a campaign of promise has crumbled so quickly after a summer of poor recruitment gave them a false start. The Reading faithful have quickly united in recent months, however, in their protest of Dai Yongge’s ownership and Paunovic’s management, neither of which look like ending any time soon.
Reading have found themselves in a position where they can neither afford to sack nor keep their manager. Nobody appears to have passed that message onto the hierarchy. Peterborough’s outspoken ownership, meanwhile, have shown their faith already in Darren Ferguson, handing their long-serving coach a contract extension after a somewhat promising start.
It is rare that clubs in such desolate form keep faith in the same manager from opening day to mid-February with relegation looking increasingly likely. That truth reads louder with one glance at the squads.
If you told me at the beginning of the season this starting 11: Southwood, Yiadom, Morro, T-Mac, Baba, Rino, Laurent, Meite, Swift, Ince, Joao – would be fighting to stay out the bottom 3 tonight Id call you Clownovic.
— jamie (@dingjme) February 16, 2022
Reading’s really shouldn’t be in this position: John Swift, Josh Laurent, Andy Yiadom and Yakou Meite are testament enough to that when in top form.
Peterborough’s typically hectic transfer business had some promise both in the summer and winter windows, but Jorge Grant, Gideon Fuchs, Callum Morton et al. all look more like great League One signings than good Championship ones. The sale of one of their brightest stars this season in Siriki Dembele to promotion-chasing Bournemouth stank of a club already accepting its likely fate of an immediate return to League One.
With the clouds at long last seeming to lift over Derby, their five-point gap to second-tier safety is looking surmountable; the Rams would be comfortably mid-table and a similar gap from the play-off places were it not for those deductions. Their survival push both on and off the pitch have progressed from the stuff of fairytales to almost an expectation.
Hull and Cardiff are next up in the lowly Championship stakes yet both had positive starts to the calendar year and are far clear; it will be three from the current bottom four for the chop.
Barnsley have been on course to break the sort of records no club wants, while the aftermath of Peterborough and Reading’s clash shows that very few associated with either club expect to be playing Championship football again next season. For all the furore and misery that has surrounded Derby for much of the last year and a half, they have more optimism and excitement around them than their three survival challengers combined.
With Paunovic having reportedly already having offered his resignation, rejected by the Reading hierarchy on the presumed account that no actual manager would risk their reputation with the Berkshire club, and Peterborough likely to remain committed to a manager who signed a new deal only four months ago, both clubs are crossing their fingers and hoping for the best in the final months.
Given the angry and frustrated scenes outside London Road between the Reading players and supporters and the boos that greeted the full-time whistle from both sets of fans, that is not the wisest choice to make.
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