Competing at Wembley is often said to be the fulfilment of a childhood dream, but for Reading’s centre-back Alex Pearce Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at the national stadium will feel more like a re-enactment of a childhood reality. Pearce could be pitted again against Theo Walcott, whom he first faced when the pair were 12.
“I used to play for a team called Vale of White Horse and he played for his team in Newbury and we came up against each other a couple of times,” says the Oxfordshire-bred Pearce, before joking, “I walked all over him.”
Within only a few years of those clashes Walcott was on his way to the World Cup with England having completed a multimillion-pound transfer from Southampton to Arsenal. “He stood out [when they faced each other as children], I’m not going to lie,” Pearce says. “He was quick, he always had that in his locker. And technically very good as well. People underestimate how good he is technically. He’s a top player and a top lad.”
Pearce’s progression was less spectacular than Walcott’s. Three months after Sven-Goran Eriksson surprisingly took an inexperienced teenage winger to the World Cup in Germany, Pearce signed his first professional contract, graduating from Reading’s academy to become a full-time employee of the club. He left only for loan stints at Northampton Town, Bournemouth, Norwich City and Southampton, and has now, at 26, made more than 200 appearances for the club, including many as captain in recent seasons. He was, however, an unused substitute the last time Reading met Arsenal in that barmy League Cup encounter at the Madejski Stadium in 2012 when Reading raced into a four-goal lead only for the Premier League side to storm back and win 7-5, Walcott helping himself to a hat-trick. “It was probably the weirdest game I’ve ever seen,” Pearce says.
One of the problems for Reading is that Arsenal are so strong they can probably afford to leave Walcott on the bench, what with Alexis Sánchez, Mesut Özil and Danny Welbeck also featuring in an extravagant array of options for Arsène Wenger. That firepower contrasts sharply with the bluntness of a Reading side whose frequent inability to convert promising play into goals is the main reason they are teetering in 18th position in the Championship, relegation still a mathematical risk. Their manager, Steve Clarke, accepts that Arsenal will dominate possession and says his team will have to defend impeccably if they are to have any chance of sneaking a shock victory.
Pearce will be integral to that ploy, partnered in central defence by a more recent graduate of Reading’s academy, 22-year-old Michael Hector who is often linked with a transfer to a Premier League club. Arsenal have been mentioned as potential suitors.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Pearce says. “He’s a very level-headed lad and he’s been great this season and the world is his oyster. It’s been a pleasure to play with him and I’ve learned a lot off him and hopefully he’s learned off me, too.” Pearce’s eagerness to preserve his partnership with Hector was plain to see during Tuesday night’s Championship defeat by Bournemouth, when a foul by Hector led to several Bournemouth players demanding the defender be shown a second yellow card. Aware that would have ruled Hector out of the semi-final, Pearce rushed over to lobby for leniency and was relieved when the referee, Keith Stroud, agreed. He hopes fortune smiles on his team again on Saturday.
“Arsenal are in great form and you don’t see many weaknesses,” Pearce says. “But if we get a bit of luck and play well, who knows, we could get a result.”
