With the new cycle of U18s underway the Wednesday team lining up against the Royals bore no resemblance to the one that enjoyed a couple of decent runs in the cup over the last couple of years.
Jarvis Thornton, who captained the side at Hillsborough tonight, was the only survivor from the team beaten by Cambridge United in the fifth round last season, and it was always going to be a tough task against a Reading side that thumped six past Rotherham United in their last fixture.
For a while the Owls held their own, neither team taking ownership of the game on a bitterly cold evening at S6 for almost half an hour, but then there was the first bit of real quality and the visitors found themselves ahead.
Shay Spencer picked out Luke Howard, and his reverse pass found arguably the brightest spark on the field – Kiyan Coke-Miles-Smith. The ball bobbled slightly as he controlled it, but he soon got it under control and was able to slot it calmly past Jack Phillips. 1-0.
Young forward, Devlan Moses, has been on fire in the league for the U18s this season, his form seeing him called up to the Northern Ireland youth setup, but he was starved of supply up top on this occasion and Wednesday were never really able to get a foothold in the tie.
Coke-Miles-Smith continued to cause problems down the left, and with 41 minutes on the clock he managed to get his and Reading’s second. This time it was Taylan Harris that found him, and after breezing past his man he clipped it with the outside of his boot and inside the far post… Wednesday had a mountain to climb.
Things weren’t going their way, but they did manage a little flurry before the break as Thornton crashed a brilliant long-range effort and Carlos Rodrigues found some space in the box, however the Owls fullback couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and the chance went begging.
Andy Sharp delved into his bench at the break, bringing on Finley Hunt to replace Sutura Kakay, but the pendulum still didn’t shift the way of the hosts and not long into the half there was another change aw Mario Bobea made way for Voldi Mbaya.
Wednesday did manage to have a bit more of the ball as the game went on and could’ve got themselves back in it when the ball bobbled to Moses in the box, however the defender did enough to put him off and he put it wide. Moments later he was inches away from getting on the end of a fine Bruno Fernandes cross, but his sliding effort couldn’t quite get to the ball.
And they were chances they were left to rue, because on the hour mark it was three. That man Coke-Miles-Smith was left with the freedom of Hillsborough in the box to tap home from close range after a cross from Harris, and that was that. They needed late heroics against Hemel Hempstead in the last round, but there would be no such comeback for this one.
There was time for another goal though, and after grabbing two assists earlier in the game Harris decided to get himself on the scoresheet. Impressive substitute, Jerae Jones, slipped him in, and the number seven rocketed it into the roof of the net to make it 4-0. And it didn’t flatter them.
Wednesday huffed and puffed as they looked for a consolation goal, but it was to be in vain. The referee blew the whistle bringing matters to a close after 93 minutes, and the result hadn’t been in doubt for some time. For the Owls their run in the FA Youth Cup is over before it even really begun.