When : Friday 7th April 2023, 3pm
Where : SCL, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
Just when you don’t need it, up rocks the one fixture over the last few seasons that has been the most miserable piece of turd on the fixture list both in terms of Reading’s performances and the final result. On top of it all Birmingham haven’t been much to write home about either and all in all it’s usually been an awfully dull battle of who can be the least incompetent on the day.
Birmingham’s current form is pretty useful (but then Rochdale’s is probably pretty useful when compared to what Reading’s form is these days!) and they’ve won 2 in a row and 3 of their last 4. They won their last away trip at the fakes (the other blue and white hooped pile of cr@p on free fall in the division) and also beat Blackburn last time out so this will be hard. They’ve also kept two successive clean sheets so another reason to expect another dour, tedious waste of time on the day.
Usual threats from Birmingham are Scott Hogan and the eternal substitute that is Lucas Jutkiewicz to batter you for the last half hour. Troy Deeney has been absent recently through injury so that threat may well be missing but midfielders George Hall (apparently being watched by Liverpool), Reda Khadra and Tahith Chong have been contributing fairly successfully. Finally defender Auston Trusty has been popping up so presumably set pieces also need to be well marshalled.
The blues have 6 injured; Przemyslaw Placheta, Troy Deeney, Tate Campbell, Gary Gardner, Josh Williams and Dion Sanderson and a doubt over Jobe Bellingham while Reading are missing the standard double figure number of players plus the suspended Mamadou Loum. On top of that Andy Carroll is reported to be carrying a hernia problem and Amadou Mbengue a thigh problem but both seem able to turn out if needed.
Other games, concerning sides struggling, to watch for on Friday are:
Blackpool v Cardiff
QPR v Preston
Rotherham v WBA
Sheff U v Wigan
Watford v Huddersfield
Referee
Scott “this is my second ever tier 2 level league game” Oldham
Previously
n/a
Historically
Well at least this one doesn’t present much to live up to. Previous home league games with Birmingham have generally worked out to be utter disasters with Reading usually handing in performances that at best can only be described as shambolic.
Games with Birmingham only go back 35 years or so and in that time Birmingham have turned up in Reading on 19 occasions and won 8 times while Reading have struggled to a mere 5 victories. Most depressing are the last 8 games played at home to Brum which has seen the home team manage a fantastic return of 5 points while serving up some quite clueless and utterly inept performances (e.g. that dreadful 0-2 of January 2018).
So, if I were you, I’d avoid this one like you would avoid a crawl through a working sewage pipe in an Indian restaurant specialising in Vindaloos.
However if you are a masochist, this is how to follow the game
- Use your favourite ticket obtainment procedure followed by whichever suitable means of travel enablement is preferred
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use a RoyalTV subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
) would be Mark Bowen and would that be different enough?