Little went right for West Ham in their London War Cup competition game with Reading at Upton Park which ended in a draw. Ten minutes after the start Foxall sustained an injury to his leg and, although he returned for some time in the first half, he was unable to render much assistance to his colleagues and did not accompany them following the interval. Then, when immediately after the visitors had taken the lead, the Hammers failed to convert a penalty. In the last few minutes, however, they managed to equalize, and subsequently seemed capable of scoring other goals, although one man short. Unfortunately their revival came too late for them to derive benefit from it.
A strong, fast and virile side, Reading had not lost a match in the competition and they refused to allow their opponents to settle to their normal game. The Hammers' inability to do that during the greater part of the exchanges was emphasized by the long absence of Foxall, which naturally affected their balance. Had they won. as they were expected to do, they would have replaced Beading as the competition leaders, but even with this inducement they failed to reproduce their best form and narrowly averted defeat.
Small went up into the attack in Foxall's place at outside-right, and he was the best of the forwards during that time. Generally, even when Foxall was hobbling about almost helpless, Hobbis on the other wing was very much neglected. That this policy was mistaken was proved by the fact that on one of the few occasions that he received a pass—and then It was in the nature of an accident—he levelled the scores.