MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

[Sutekh]

When : Saturday, 1 April 2023, 3pm
Where : Ashton Gate, Ashton Road, Bristol, BS3 2EJ, Bristol
Capacity : 27,000


Reading are now the proud owners of the very worst away record in the division (11 points from 57 available so far) and only Rotherham have scored less away (11). However it is improving as last time out, at Blackburn, Reading had the temerity to actually score a goal (the 12th) and their first on the road in 2023, so an improvement on that might lead to strange point type things coming the club’s way in it’s effort to maintain a minimum 7 point cushion between itself and whichever club is in 22nd place. And with it being April Fool’s Day there might be an outside chance of this one not being the pointless waste of time that most league visits turn out to be for the club.

Bristol City have been pretty much mid table all season though with a slight “teetering on a relegation campaign” which they have, again, managed to avoid. Form all season has largely been erratic, veering from spells unbeaten to spells where they could be mistaken for Reading. Currently they’re on a typically inconsistent run with 2 home wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats in the last 6 though those points came courtesy of visits from Blackpool and Hull and a visit to Huddersfield so would suggest a team that might struggle against anyone half decent. Bristol have not lost at home this year though and have kept 4 clean sheets at Ashton Gate in the last 5 games so Reading need to approach this one in the right way.

Nakhi Wells is the threat with 11 goals so far this season, Tommy Conway and Andreas Weimann are also fairly lively up front so Reading will have their hands full defensively which will really be something to look forward to . Former Reading loanee Chris Martin is now also at the club to enable the possibility of the “former Royal scores against old club” trope to be enacted.

The Robins have 8 players missing; Tomas Kalas, Ayman Benarous, the aforementioned Tommy Conway, Joe Williams, Matty James, Kal Naismith and Rob Atkinson are all injured while winger Mark Sykes starts a 4 game ban after the FL picked up on violent conduct not seen by the referee in City’s last game with Swansea. Meanwhile Reading will be without the suspended Loum plus 9 injured, which at least helps reduce Ince‘s attempts at tactical masterstrokes which can only be good overall.

Referee

Steve “one win in eight (but it was away)” Martin

Previously

04 Feb 23 > Reading 2-2 Watford
13 Aug 22 > Rotherham United 4-0 Reading
04 Dec 21 > Reading 1-1 Hull City
18 Sep 21 > Fulham 1-2 Reading
13 Mar 21 > Nottingham Forest 1-1 Reading
22 Jul 20 > Reading 1-4 Swansea City
07 July 20 > Reading 0-0 Huddersfield Town
05 Oct 19 > Bristol City 1-0 Reading
13 Apr 19 > Reading 2-1 Brentford
13 Feb 19 > Reading 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
22 Dec 18 > Reading 0-1 Middlesbrough
14 Apr 18 > Reading 2-2 Sunderland
27 Feb 18 > Nottm Forest 1-1 Reading
11 Dec 17 > Reading 2-2 Cardiff City
23 Sep 17 > Reading 1-1 Hull City
26 Aug 17 > Birmingham City 0-2 Reading
24 Jan 17 > Reading 1-0 Fulham
15 Oct 16 > Queen's Park Rangers 1-1 Reading
15 Mar 16 > Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Reading
23 Jan 16 > Reading 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
19 Sep 15 > Bristol City 0-2 Reading
25 Mar 14 > Reading 1-3 Barnsley

Historically

Many a season has been shared with the red half of Bristol with this being the 50th league visit to face City. The first league fixture was in 1922 and was a 2-1 defeat at Ashton Gate and the two clubs have been pretty much regularly encountering each other ever since, aside from the late 60s and 1970s when Bristol briefly got ambition and ultimately sailed into the 1st division for 4 seasons leaving Reading to their regular lower division “can't be arsedness”.

Reading have amassed 15 wins from the previous 49 games compared to City’s 26. City do have an unfortunate habit of scoring though as they average around 2 goals a game in this fixture - though Reading's superbly organised defence might well change that.

How to follow the game

1. Get a ticket and go
2. Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
3. Ring/text a mate for updates
4. Use a RoyalsTV subscription
5. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think we've got a decent chance of picking up a win here to be honest. Not that convinced by Bristol City at the moment, definitely a beatable side and they have quite a few missing as well. Obviously nothing about our away record would suggest we will win, but backed by a decent away following and a two week break might just be what we need.

Also, Chris Martin is no longer a Bristol City player, he moved to QPR in the January transfer window by the way.

[Stranded]

If we were ever to look to actually win an away game ever again, this would be the type of game you would look to target.

So we'll lose 2-0.

Would just be nice to go into this game actually knowing how many points the club has but I'm not holding my breath.

[tidus_mi2]

If we were ever to look to actually win an away game ever again, this would be the type of game you would look to target.

So we'll lose 2-0.

Would just be nice to go into this game actually knowing how many points the club has but I'm not holding my breath.

It's nailed on really, they are yet to lose at home in the league this year.

[NathStPaul]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

[Hound]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

Other than Burnley, is there anyone who isn’t ‘beatable’

Not been impressed by anyone much this year tbh

[Snowflake Royal]

I think we've got a decent chance of picking up a win here to be honest. Not that convinced by Bristol City at the moment, definitely a beatable side and they have quite a few missing as well. Obviously nothing about our away record would suggest we will win, but backed by a decent away following and a two week break might just be what we need.

Also, Chris Martin is no longer a Bristol City player, he moved to QPR in the January transfer window by the way.

Begins with B so there's always hope

[Snowflake Royal]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

Other than Burnley, is there anyone who isn’t ‘beatable’

Not been impressed by anyone much this year tbh

Almost everyone with Ince's team selection and tactics.

[Hendo]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

Other than Burnley, is there anyone who isn’t ‘beatable’

Not been impressed by anyone much this year tbh

And we even came close to beating them!

[Sutekh]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

Other than Burnley, is there anyone who isn’t ‘beatable’

Not been impressed by anyone much this year tbh

And we even came close to beating them!

Let’s hope when that one come round the players are right up for it and anxious to correct that refereeing cock up. Might be funny if we get Jeremy Simpson as the allocated ref for it too, wonder if he might “even it up” if he was?

[South Coast Royal]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

Other than Burnley, is there anyone who isn’t ‘beatable’

Not been impressed by anyone much this year tbh

Haven't been much impressed by anybody this season at our place other than Coventry and Sunderland -it is a division again of generally dull football with so many easily forgettable games.

Not much longer to go now chaps, thank goodness.

[Hound]

How many times this season are we going to play teams who are "beatable" and end up losing tamely? This will be another example.

Other than Burnley, is there anyone who isn’t ‘beatable’

Not been impressed by anyone much this year tbh

Haven't been much impressed by anybody this season at our place other than Coventry and Sunderland -it is a division again of generally dull football with so many easily forgettable games.

Not much longer to go now chaps, thank goodness.

Yeah agreed with those 2. They both looked good teams

And weirdly two teams right up near the top - Luton and Blackburn - would rate as the worst 2 sides I’ve seen us play this year, along with Huddersfield and Blackpool just below

[Hound]

So serious doubts over Carroll, Ince and Dann

Ejaria out for the season

Meite prob back

Not great

[Orion1871]

So serious doubts over Carroll, Ince and Dann

Ejaria out for the season

Meite prob back

Not great

Something tells me that Ejaria would make a miraculous recovery if Paul Ince was sacked before the end of the season

[Stranded]

So serious doubts over Carroll, Ince and Dann

Ejaria out for the season

Meite prob back

Not great

Something tells me that Ejaria would make a miraculous recovery if Paul Ince was sacked before the end of the season

Doubt they would make up a line about needing surgery if there wasn't some truth in it but always possible.

[Crowbar6753]

So Saturdays team sheet is going to be interesting. I really don't see how P.Ince will be able to go with his preferred ultra negative 5-3-2 with our current list of injuries? Unless Meite returns as CB

With Ince out injured there goes our main source of any creativity gone!! Would be inclined to try and take the game to Brizzle and use Meite and Azeez as our attacking outlets and just try and get the ball into the box for Joao and hopefully he'll hit form.

With tomorrows 6 point deduct we really need to get back to winning ways ASAP and this game against a middle table Brizzle has to be one of the games we look to get something out of.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

So Saturdays team sheet is going to be interesting. I really don't see how P.Ince will be able to go with his preferred ultra negative 5-3-2 with our current list of injuries? Unless Meite returns as CB

With Ince out injured there goes our main source of any creativity gone!! Would be inclined to try and take the game to Brizzle and use Meite and Azeez as our attacking outlets and just try and get the ball into the box for Joao and hopefully he'll hit form.

With tomorrows 6 point deduct we really need to get back to winning ways ASAP and this game against a middle table Brizzle has to be one of the games we look to get something out of.

We now need 6 from next 3 given we then play Burney, Luton and Cov away.

[Sutekh]

So Saturdays team sheet is going to be interesting. I really don't see how P.Ince will be able to go with his preferred ultra negative 5-3-2 with our current list of injuries? Unless Meite returns as CB

With Ince out injured there goes our main source of any creativity gone!! Would be inclined to try and take the game to Brizzle and use Meite and Azeez as our attacking outlets and just try and get the ball into the box for Joao and hopefully he'll hit form.

With tomorrows 6 point deduct we really need to get back to winning ways ASAP and this game against a middle table Brizzle has to be one of the games we look to get something out of.

We now need 6 from next 3 given we then play Burney, Luton and Cov away.

The next 3 are actually the annual miserable home performance and defeat to Brum, an “anything can happen in defeat” at Preston and the Burnley massacre.

[URZZZZ]

So Saturdays team sheet is going to be interesting. I really don't see how P.Ince will be able to go with his preferred ultra negative 5-3-2 with our current list of injuries? Unless Meite returns as CB

With Ince out injured there goes our main source of any creativity gone!! Would be inclined to try and take the game to Brizzle and use Meite and Azeez as our attacking outlets and just try and get the ball into the box for Joao and hopefully he'll hit form.

With tomorrows 6 point deduct we really need to get back to winning ways ASAP and this game against a middle table Brizzle has to be one of the games we look to get something out of.

We still have the personnel to use the 5-3-2/5-2-3. Something like:


Lumley

Mbengue
Holmes
Sarr

Yiadom
Hendrick
Casadei
Fornah
NGW

Meite
Joao

Will leave an extremely weak bench mind

[Stranded]

Honestly, if the points come off today - I just want us to attack, attack, attack every single game - I'd rather go down trying to win games than go down trying not to lose them.

I know we only need to match results of the bottom 3 but they are going to win games, so, so do we.