On This Day: League Cup madness at the Madejski

It was absolute madness at the Madejski Stadium back in 2012 when Reading and Arsenal went head-to-head in a 12-goal thriller in Berkshire. With a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup at stake, Reading started off like a house on fire as ex-Grenada international Jason Roberts opened the scoring just 12 minutes into the October contest, which incredibly ended 7-5 to the Gunners.
Former Arsenal captain Laurent Koscielny, who left the Emirates this summer to join Bordeaux, then put into the back of his own net seven minutes later before Mikele Leigertwood made it 3-0 a minute later.
Things got even better for the Royals in the 37th minute when Noel Hunt made it 4-0 and it was no surprise to see the visiting support contemplating an early exit from the Madejski Stadium.
However, England international Theo Walcott, who now plays for Everton, managed to turn it around with a stunning hat-trick – his first of the night coming in first-half stoppage time to give the Gunners a glimmer of hope heading into the break.
Frenchman Olivier Giroud netted in the 64th minute – reducing the deficit to two – before Koscielny made up for his own-goal by scoring at the right end of the pitch with a minute of normal time remaining.
With wave after wave of attacks coming Reading’s way, Arsenal grabbed an equaliser in the sixth minute of added time to send the away section who had stayed on into raptures, while the home fans looked on in despair.
The madness continued in extra-time as Marouane Chamakh put the Gunners 5-4 ahead in the 103rd minute before Pavel Pogrebnyak looked like he had forced penalties when levelling the scores with five minutes remaining.
However, in a thrilling finish, Walcott grabbed his third in the 121st minute before Chamakh ended with a brace when netting with pretty much the last kick of the game.
For the neutral, the contest was a sensational watch but, for both sets of supporters, it was one of the most topsy-turvy games they have ever been involved in.
Arsenal, who ended up finishing fourth in the Premier League that season, didn’t last much longer in the competition as they were knocked out by eventual finalists Bradford City in the next round, losing 3-2 on penalties.