When : Saturday August 26 2023, 3pm
Where : St James Park, Stadium Way, Exeter, EX4 6PX
Capacity : 8,197
Reading take their burgeoning season of hope down to Devon for a visit to Exeter next, their first trip to that part of the country for almost 30 years, and it couldn't be a brighter trip for all those going despite the current miserable away league record of 0 wins and 11 defeats from the last 13 games played and just 5 (FIVE) goals scored.
While Reading are looking confident and seem to be playing well, the current run of two successive wins should be tempered by the fact Reading were at home on both occasions against what turned out to be pretty limited opposition and Exeter should provide much more than that after their 7 point haul from their first 4 games. Their previous home games have seen a draw against one of the favourites in Blackpool and a win over Crawley in the League Cup. And, if you were wondering, Reading last managed three successive league wins at this same stage of the season last year when wins against Blackburn, Middlesbrough and then at Millwall lifted them to the lofty position of the best team in the whole of the football league.
St James Park is what you'd call a traditional lower league ground with fans right down by the pitch on all four sides so won't be for the fainthearted player. By the look of things Exeter will be a very difficult side to break down having conceded just 1 goal in the league (at Portsmouth) so Reading will have to be clever on how they approach this and Selles will need to make sure the homework is done, another Port Vale will put everything right back to square one and we really don't want to see that happening.
Former Royal Pierce Sweeney will be leading the Exeter defence, while Viljami Sinisalo is someone who tends to catch the eye in many games. Their goal threat at the moment is in the form of Jack Aitchison and Demetri Mitchell but at this level I think there is more reliance on a team ethic than names and stars so Reading need to be respectful of everyone while looking to impose their game in their way on opponents so this is going to be a very big game for the club.
Luckily injuries seem to be holding steady with just Smith and Ejaria the main casualties, their may be a doubt over Knobs (spell checked) though after seemingly taking a head injury against Stevenage but other than that I don't think there's any real reason to change the side that played in that game
Referee
Will Finnie
Previously
No previous fixtures
Historically
Exeter were very regular opponents of Reading right up to the last time the clubs last met in the league back in 1993/94. In all there have been 80 games between the two sides and every one of them has been in the league.
St James Park hasn't been too bad for Reading down the years with 16 wins achieved which is only 2 less than Exeter themselves have managed which leaves just 6 draws amongst the 40 games played. While I don't think the game will be quite the roller coaster of the last visit (a 6-4 Reading win which at one point saw Exeter fight back to 4-4 from 4-1 down at half time (see highlights at the link below)) now is as good as any that the club have had to end the miserably cr@p run of away league form that it is currently suffering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGEyMzXDdks
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and go
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use a RoyalsTV subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
