When the Royals take on nearby rival Oxford United on Saturday, Reading supporters are looking forward to their most anticipated away trip of the year.
For the first time in almost 20 years, the Thames Valley derby was played at the SCL last month, and the match ended in a draw.
The U’s took the lead through Ciaron Brown, but Reading immediately responded through Sam Smith to share the points.
In less than 24 hours, the Royals sold all of the 1,487 away tickets they had been allocated due to the extremely high demand.
The previous time Reading visited Kassam Stadium, it was for a League Cup match that the Royals won 2-0.
Since 2000, Reading has defeated the U’s six times in their previous matches.
Despite their recent form surge—they have only lost once in their past nine league games—Reading enters the match still in the relegation zone.
The Royals are on 27 points, three points adrift of safety with plenty of sides within catching distance in a tightly contested lower half of the table. Oxford are still clinging onto the play-off places and are in sixth place after their Tuesday night draw with league leaders Portsmouth. The U’s went in front through Tyler Goddrham before late goals from Colby Bishop and Callum Lang looked to have given Pompey three points.
James Henry, nevertheless, tied the score in the ninetieth minute to give Oxford a valuable point.
Oxford has dropped out of the standings after losing four times in League One since their December matchup against Reading.
Button, Yiadom, Bindon, Holmes, Dorsett, Craig, Wing, Knibbs, Azeez, Mukairu, Smith are the predicted reading lineup.
Leave a Reply