When : Tuesday October 1 2024, 8pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
Burton Albion arrive in Reading next for another game that subscribers to Sky Sports can watch on the telly (though it's not a main game).
On top of that Burton are stuck in the bottom 4 still looking for their first league win of the season and as we all know it was only a couple of weeks or so ago that Charity FC turned up to bale out bottom of the table Leyton Orient who were also looking for their first league win so alarm bells should be ringing already on this one all around the place.
The Brewers' pointage so far has come from 4 draws but 3 of those draws have come from 3 of their 4 away games, so we might find them rather frustrating to play against just like the miserable game we had to sit through last season.
There was quite the turnover in playing staff over the summer with 21 players arriving (they'd signed 11 before the end of June!) including 4 on loan and 9 departing. The shake up was probably as much down to the appointment of former Wimbledon snd Chelsea academy boss Mark Robinson as manager as much as last season's poor showing which saw Burton narrowly avoid the drop to the 4th tier, even though they took 4 points off of Reading Charity FC.
Billy Bodin has netted 3 so far and is leading scorer but the highly rated striker Danilo Orsi from Crawley is one of the new signings still looking to bed in properly so there should be enough to keep the Reading defence occupied. Points have been gained at a useful Mansfield and also at Rotherham, where Reading go on Saturday, so there needs to be a suitably organised approach from everyone and not just a "we've only got to turn up" thought.
Pereira remains sidelined along with Dorsett and Yiadom, there won't be any chance of the former returning until late October, Dorsett until November and Yiadom until some point next year but Button and Abrefa should be able to cover sufficiently. Think, though, I'd expect a certain amount of squad rotation from Selles on the back of 3 games in a week and the visit to Rotherham looming.
Referee
Alex Chilowicz
Previously...
06 Apr 24 > Reading 1-1 Lincoln City
Historically
Burton at home is becoming a bit of a frustrating bogey for Reading. There have been 3 games between the two teams in Reading and the Brewers have avoided defeat in two of them. In fact they haven't lost on either of their last two visits, one being that infamous travesty devised by Stam and the last being the instantly forgettable 0-0 from last season.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel to the game
- The Sky button thingy
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use an RoyalsTV subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)