Yesterday was a very long day. I began it at 6:30am writing about the possibility of Reading signing defender Alan Bennett from Cork City, and ended it at midnight cropping a picture of Greg Halford signing for the club with chairman John Madejski.

So Bennett and Halford have both joined, and we've already had the chance to speak to Bennett, who sounds just like the other two players Reading have signed from Cork - Shane Long and Kevin Doyle, who both joined a couple of seasons ago. Bennett's interview finishes with us wishing him good luck, to which he replies, "Thanks a lot - sound!". More people should end interviews with a hearty exclamation of "sound!". He seems like a very nice guy.

It's fair to say it's all been happening this week as far as Reading goes. On Monday they were drawn away at Manchester United in the Cup - I ended up speaking to the chairman on air about the potential consequences of the draw, on the pitch and also off the pitch, i.e. financially. The also signed a young winger named Oliver Bozanic.

On Tuesday, havng barely done anything in the transfer window all month, it all kicked off. By about midday we knew that Alan Bennett was definitely going to sign, and then BBC Essex gave us a call in mid-afternoon to say that Colchester were almost certain to sell Greg Halford to Reading too. The advantage of working as part of a network of local radio stations is that someone has their ear to the ground in every part of the country (except, for some reason, Cheshire, which nobody seems to care about), so BBC Essex kept us informed right up til the moment it was a done deal.

Today Michael Duberry seems to be about to sign for Reading from Stoke (all three of these are defenders - clearly Steve Coppell's a man on a mission), and John Oster's signed a new deal. Meanwhile the United game's been picked for live TV coverage and two more Reading players have been called up to the Ireland squad. That's quite a lot to get into one sports bulletin (bearing in mind it's a sport bulletin, not a Reading FC bulletin!).

Not that I spent quite the whole day in the office:

For the very first time this season, despite dealing with interviews and match reports week in, week out, I actually got to go to the bloody game. We had tickets right behind the goal in the South Stand, which is fine by me - I'm very happy behind the goal and it's quite close to the pitch, even if the away fans are just a few seats away (they were pretty well behaved).

The general consensus seems to be that Reading were pretty poor but I've seen much worse in my time. Marcus Hahnemann pulled off a couple of cracking saves and when Wigan took a very early lead I thought I was going to turn into some kind of bad luck charm for the club, but they turned it around well.

Plus, I feel compelled to praise the public transport to and from the ground. We parked at the station and were on a bus inside ten minutes despite a fairly big queue, and the bus got us to the ground in only 20 minutes or so despite the Mad Stad having a dismal reputation for traffic. At the end we were on a bus within 15 minutes of the final whistle and again, back at the car in 20 more - for £3 return. That's a good gig! Being a night match might have made it a slightly easier ride but on that evidence I'll be taking the bus the next time I go. If there is a next time. Back to the desk... where's that bloody Duberry gone...