IT WAS the most extraordinary match the Madejski Stadium has ever witnessed.

Now Reading's upcoming EFL Cup clash against Arsenal brings memories of one of the craziest nights in football flooding back.

The date was October 30, 2012 and few neutrals gave Brian McDermott's Royals much hope against Arsene Wenger's Gunners for what was then a sell-out Capital One Cup fourth round tie.

Yet what happened over the next 120 minutes of pulsating and mesmerising action made this one of the greatest cup ties of all time.

It was a rollercoaster from start to finish, a game that dragged both sets of supporters through an emotional mangle in the joint highest-scoring fixture in League Cup history.

With just 37 minutes on the clock and their side already 4-0 up, Royals fans were in dreamland.

Goals from Jason Roberts, Mikele Leigertwood and Noel Hunt plus a Laurent Koscielny own goal had put McDermott's side into what appeared to be an unassailable lead.

By that stage a number of Gunners fans had already seen enough and headed for the exit door, seemingly with all hope gone.

Roberts put the hosts in front in the 10th minute when he shook off Koscielny before slotting past Damian Martinez from Hal Robson-Kanu's cross.

The second arrived six minutes later, this time Chris Gunter's cross deflecting off Koscienly's leg and into the net.

Two minutes later it was 3-0 after Leigertwood scored from the edge of the box then Hunt added a fourth in the 37th minute when he headed home Garath McCleary's cross.

By that stage a number of Gunners fans had already seen enough and headed for the exit door, seemingly with all hope gone, as chants of 'We want our Arsenal back' rang around the stadium.

But Compton's Theo Walcott gave Wenger's dispirited men a crucial lifeline when he pulled one back just before the break.

Suddenly, Reading's confidence and swagger began to wane – and Arsenal sensed it.

The visitors grabbed a second on 64 minutes when Olivier Giroud headed Walcott's corner beyond Adam Federici.

But when Reading held firm for the next 25 minutes it looked as though they had done enough to reach the quarter finals.

However, Koscielny headed in Walcott's flag-kick with a minute to go, then Walcott made it 4-4 with an injury-time shot that crept over the line, despite the desperate efforts of Nicky Shorey, to send the tie to extra time.

The momentum was now with Arsenal who took the lead for the first time through Chamakh's 103rd-minute strike.

Pavel Pogrebnyak did make it 5-5 with a smart header 12 minutes later after coming off the bench.

But Walcott put the visitors back in front by completing his hat-trick before Chamakh notched number seven with a clever lob in the final minute.

McDermott felt Walcott's first strike to make it 4-1 was vital to the end result.

“It’s the goal we conceded before half-time,’’ he later confessed. “I wasn’t happy. It made me uneasy.

“We have to go in 4-0 then it’s a game we see out confidently. I wasn’t comfortable at 4-1. It was the turning point of the game.

“It gave them impetus that they didn’t need. We dominated the first half. We didn’t play second half. They’ve got good players, they can hurt us.

“It was suicide what went on in the second half and extra time. It was kamizake, even at 5-5. Just extraordinary.

“It’s embarrassing what happened to us.”

Wales international Gunter summed up the mood in the dressing room after the final whistle.

“At half-time you wouldn’t have thought we were the team leading by three goals,” he stated. “There was something strange, you could almost feel the momentum going the other way.

“It wasn’t that doubt entered our minds, it was that we’d given them something to hold on to.”

He continued: “Afterwards, when you’ve lost 7-5 having been four up, you just think: 'How did we let that go? It was awful, the worst feeling I’ve had in football.”

As for Wenger, he claimed it was the most extraordinary game in his managerial career.

“You always see new things in our game,’’ said the Frenchman. “That’s why it’s never boring.

“Reading had a fantastic start. We were not sharp and were beaten in every one on one. It was 4-0 and could’ve been one or two more. They just scored when they wanted.

“We were beaten defensively they played at a higher pace and we didn’t find our game, we just played negatively and conceded goal after goal.

“I felt sorry for our fans. At 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 the fans stayed behind the team. I am happy that we paid them back in the second half. The miracle happened.

“We moved very offensive to 4-2-4 and we started to create chance after chance. We got the miracle goal in the last minute. You cannot play for Arsenal and give up no matter what the score is. The players understood that at half-time.’’

It was the joint highest scoring league cup match along with the 6-6 draw between Dagenham & Redbridge and Brentford in the first round in August 2014, which Brentford won on penalties.

Reading have now face Arsenal 13 times in all competitions, losing all 13.

Fixture number 14 will take place at the Emirates tonight.

Reading FC: Federici, Gunter, Shorey, Morrison, Gorkss, Leigertwood, Tabb, Robson-Kanu, Hunt (Pogrebnyak 73), McCleary (McAnuff 73), Roberts (Church 90). Subs not used: Taylor, Pearce, Harte, Le Fondre. Booked: Morrison, Leigertwood.

Arsenal: Martinez, Koscielny, Djourou, Jenkinson, Miquel (Meade 105), Walcott, Coquelin, Arshavin, Frimpong (Giroud 62), Gnabry (Eisfeld 62), Chamakh. Subs not used: Shea, Squillaci, Bellerin, Yennaris. Booked: Martinez, Koscielny, Miquel, Chamakh. Giroud, Eisfeld.

Referee: Kevin Friend.

Attendance: 23,980.