When : Saturday 21st December 2019, 3pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
Reading take their amazing run of 4 successive dismal performances into the fray against Derby County. While dismal there has at least been some points gained through a brief hiatus at the end of the Wigan game together with inability of Barnsley to hit a target and Stoke being, well equally dismal.
Derby are really not much better than dismal themselves, though that didn’t stop Birmingham on their visit to Rotherham Mad Stad, and sit 3 points and 2 places above Reading with an inferior goal difference so victory for the hoops would lift Reading at least 1 place in the table and make Derby even more anxious than they are already.
Since the loss of Frank the Rams have spluttered and hiccuped their way through the season pretty much like Reading. Their current run is 2 points from 15 and no wins in the road since they won at Huddersfield on the first day of the season and no away draws since they went to Oakwell on 2nd October. So not looking that good for Reading based on previous experiences.
Derby have not scored more than 1 in a game since they beat Middlesbrough 2-0 on 2nd November and since then they have gone on a run of 7 games alternating between scoring 1 and then scoring 0 - their last game was a 1-0 defeat to Millwall.....
Goals arrive (or used to arrive) with regularity for Chris Martin (16 games, 4 goals) Martyn Waghorn (22 games, 6 goals) and Tom Lawrence (20 games, 5 goals) and barely at all for anyone else so the correct marshalling of these gentlemen is required to maximise the opportunity of 3 points.
Richard Keogh is out injured and of course it’s still pre-Rooney days for Derby. Reading will be without Puscas, Yiadom and McIntyre. It is unlikely Swift will play any part but there is an outside chance that he maybe on the bench if the optimistic reports on his injury prove really accurate. Miazga is unknown. He was rested last week as a precaution over a hamstring niggle so he will be monitored carefully this week to see if he is able to play on. If not then it’s time for a back 4 and possibly the same side that played v Stoke.
Another game then that Reading should be good enough to win and certainly a game where they surely have to get something as they look to stop the run of 2 successive home defeats. But as we know with Reading these days there is no clue as to what you’ll get on the day. Can’t be any worse than the last attempt though can it?
Referee
Taking charge of his first ever league game at this level is Michael Salisbury, last seen refereeing Cambridge v Plymouth 2 weeks ago. He sent off 3 players in the Bradford v Exeter game earlier this season and 2 in the same game on the opening day so Reading might need to behave themselves a little.
Historically
This will be the 21st visit from Derby for a league game in Reading and all have been played since September 1984.
Reading have the upper hand on Derby with almost as twice as many wins across all league games (20) as their more illustrious opponents. However while Reading have that upper hand and have recorded 11 home wins to Derby’s 4 away wins the fact is that Reading have not won any of the previous 7 home games against Derby (D4, L3) scoring 7 to their 12. So there is a real challenge there to get the better of.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel to the game
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use an iFollow subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
My bad, can i blame this on auto correct 