BRADFORD’S fairy tale run was brought to an end as Reading sealed their first FA Cup semi-final appearance for 88 years,” was how the BBC reported the result of Monday night’s game.

Nothing wrong with that. Except it wasn’t what I expected.

I thought they would have gone with: “Reading fans disgraced themselves and football when they invaded the pitch following their 3-0 victory over Bradford in the FA Cup quarter-finals.”

The BBC had similar stories a few weeks ago when Aston Villa fans did it. It led their sport news for some time. So what changed?

Two sets of fans run onto the pitch in a matter of weeks. One set are thought to have taken football back to the dark ages while the other “celebrated on the pitch after the final whistle, having had time to savour the success in a one-sided contest.” Double standards?

One supporter ran onto the pitch, took his shirt off and began doing forward rolls in the penalty area. Were there calls for him to be banned for life? No. It wasn’t even mentioned in the report.

The press doesn’t care when supporters of clubs outside the Premier League invade the pitch. They get given special privileges and are viewed in a different light.

Under a picture of Reading fans on the pitch with flares around them, the BBC chose the caption: “Reading supporters celebrate on the pitch after the game.”

That picture looked more intimidating than the ones I saw of Villa fans at Villa Park and it wasn’t even an intimidating picture.

Similarly, no-one else made a fuss of the Reading pitch invasion. No mention of crowd trouble.

It’s almost like people overreacted to what happened at Villa Park. Who would have thought it?