West Bromwich Albion 1 Reading 1

Two late penalties, neither of which should have been awarded, helped to provide some talking points on an afternoon that was otherwise as drab as the weather.

Not even the post-match press conferences after this FA Cup third-round tie gave us solace.

One can only hope that the replay, in Reading next week, will be better. One can only hope that West Bromwich Albion, below-par throughout, will live up to their Premiership billing. One can only hope that Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, will show more enthusiasm for this competition.

Coppell fielded a weakened team and seemed inconvenienced that this match went to a replay. It does not say much for Albion that they failed to break down the opposition but, as Darren Moore, their solid defender, pointed out, they are still in the FA Cup and can only play better.

Zoltan Gera appeared to secure victory for Albion when he scored a penalty in the 82nd minute after Geoff Horsfield fell under the weight of a challenge by Chris Makin.

But Reading were quickly back on level terms after Martin Albrechtsen had stopped the ball with his right arm. Kevin Doyle's penalty was perfect and, ten minutes or so later, the final whistle was drowned out by the sound of the jeers from the Albion supporters.

Bryan Robson, the Albion manager, was said to be furious at the performance but we did not see that for ourselves. Robson sent Nigel Pearson, his assistant, to conduct the press conference

and you could cut the atmosphere with a chainsaw. Like Coppell, Pearson is not known for his gregarious nature but this time he struggled to contain his disillusionment.

"We are disappointed with the performance but once you get your noses in front, even when not playing particularly well, you should see the game through," Pearson said. "It was a disjointed performance. There was not a great deal of quality but we shot ourselves in the foot with the equaliser. That's the most disappointing aspect of it.

"Bryan has told the players in no uncertain terms that the level of performance was not acceptable. We are not very happy."

But Albion should have won. Reading had a let-off in the 11th minute when Brynjar Gunnarsson's clearance looped off Nathan Ellington and past Graham Stack. But the ball hit the post and Ellington slipped over before he could convert the rebound.

Not until the penalties did a team come as close to scoring.

"Sometimes in games, you know you're not playing well but get through it," Pearson said. "It was a disjointed performance with not much quality but we had our noses in front and I think that is the most disappointing aspect of it.

"They'll take it on the chin because they'll have to and, because they're a decent bunch of players, they'll move on. We're not very happy but we didn't get beaten and we'll move on. This game was viewed as a potential banana skin and people were expecting us to be beaten.

"When we're playing games like that, it's up to us to stamp our authority on it and we didn't. We did OK in the first five or ten minutes but after that we didn't and it's a missed opportunity.

"I'm sure Reading will be saying they didn't play particularly well either. It wasn't a particularly good game and there wasn't much quality from either side. But there will be no hangover from this.

"We've got important games coming up and when we come back in on Monday it will be back to business and being as positive as possible."

Fortunately for Albion, they have more fortitude than most and are at their best when they have something to prove. They will need their qualities for when they play away to Reading on January 17.