They included those belonging to England coach Terry Venables who was in the stands to watch Owen's return.
And they didn't have long to wait for him to spring into action, the Newcastle striker just failing to reach the ball as he attempted to poke it past Reading keeper Marcus Hahnemann.
Owen was given offside on that occasion and that was to be a pattern for the first half as he tried to regain his knack of springing through a defence.
Four times the assistant's flag was raised for offside as Owen latched on to a throughball and he was also disappointed when he called for a penalty after being tackled by Michael Duberry.
Although he survived the 90 minutes, Owen saw little of the ball in the second half as he, perhaps not surprisingly, faded.
The closest either side came to scoring in a lively first half was when a clever Newcastle free-kick sent Kieron Dyer clear on the right of the penalty area.
His low, hard shot cannoned off Reading defender Nicky Shorey but was blocked at close range by the bulk of goalkeeper Hahnemann.
At the other end Kevin Doyle went close for Reading with a header and Duberry blasted one effort high over the bar when he should have done better.
Emre and Obafemi Martins were to miss even better chances in the second half.
There were two yellow cards and a sending off for Reading. Stephen Hunt was booked for an over-zeaous tackle and Dave Kitson for celebrating his second-half goal.
Reading mascot Kingsley Royal was dismissed from the touchline by referee Mike Riley.
He decided that Kingsley's blue and white striped shirt was confusing the assistant, who mistook him for a Reading player, despite the fact that he was wearing a lion's head.
The only goal of the game came six minutes into the second half. Dyer lost possession to Hunt, who slid the ball out to Ki-Hyeon Seol on the right.
The South Korean sent over a low cross, John Oster jumped over the ball and it ran to Kitson at the far post.
He took one touch with his left foot to bring the ball under control and then crashed it past Steve Harper. It was Kitson's 50th goal for Reading.
He almost repeated the move in the 63rd minute, but this time he stabbed Doyle's throughball just wide of the upright.