Steve Clarke sprang up and pumped the air with his fist . All of a sudden , there was a little extra bounce in his box-fresh training shoes and a fire in his belly burned a little more fiercely . As a Chelsea player and coach , Clarke has fought hard across the capital with Arsenal over the years but through the first-half at Wembley , his Reading team struggled to match their illustrious opponents . They were flat . They backed off and defended , and offered a little too much respect to the team with the best form in the Barclays Premier League since the turn of the year . Steve Clarke applauds fans after his Reading side were narrowly beaten by Arsenal at Wembley Stadium . Arsenal have been irresistible since they improved at the back and supplied a stronger base for the flair of their many attacking stars to perform upon . Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez , bought for a total of more than £70million , combined to open the scoring . What could Reading do with that sort of money ? Ozil and Sanchez swaggered down the tunnel for the start of the second-half , deep in conversation , planning more damage but Reading stirred , found an equaliser and were able to add urgency to their game . Clarke sprang up and threw a punch of delight into the air on the touchline . His team were back in the contest and they contributed to a thrilling FA Cup semi-final . It was their first since 1927 , so it would have been a shame to go home without a fight . As for Clarke , this must have felt good . He has been away from the cut-and-thrust of football ’ s elite since he was sacked by West Brom , but here he detected an FA Cup final as Wojciech Szczesny was unable to keep out a deflected volley from Garath McCleary . The Reading boss won the FA Cup with Chelsea in 1994 , a game he considers a defining moment in the history of the West London club . Reading 's Garath McCleary ( bottom right ) celebrates after scoring a shock equaliser against Arsenal . But Adam Federici 's goalkeeping error enabled Arsenal to regain the lead in extra time . Clarke consoles his dejected keeper following the full-time whistle at Wembley . They barely looked back and were tightening their grip on a fourth Barclays Premier League title as Reading took Arsenal in extra-time . For all their quality , Arsene Wenger ’ s team still have vulnerabilities . Clarke , having learned much at the shoulder of Jose Mourinho , will have been aware of that . He will have been disappointed with the first-half display but hugely proud of their response and the desire they showed . In the end , Reading were unable to wreck Arsenal ’ s defence of the trophy or Wenger ’ s drive towards becoming only the second manager in history to win it six times , after George Ramsay with Aston Villa , all prior to 1920 . But , as Clarke goes back to the Championship and a home game against Birmingham , he will take strength from this display and use it to inspire his return to the top-flight . Despite the defeat , Clarke will hope the performance will inspire a Premier League return .
Reading lost 2-1 against Arsenal in FA Cup semi-final at Steve Clarke . Royals took much fancied Gunners to extra-time after 1-1 draw . Wembley will take strength from impressive Reading display .