Tomorrow it should be a return to action with a home fixture against Northampton, kick-off 3pm. (Incidentally, that's the same time that the club have been quoting all season, and not a late change.) The Madejski Stadium of course has undersoil heating, and the weather forecast is for (relatively) much warmer temperatures. Reading should have a bit of an advantage, because Northampton played on Saturday, just 48 hours before their trip to Reading, whilst Reading will not have been in action for six days.
The match will see the presence of three of the top four goalscorers in the division (with the other one due in Reading next Saturday, of course), so we might reasonably expect to see some goals. Hopefully Jamie Cureton and Martin Butler can take take further steps back to the top of that list. Cureton is also still looking for the one goal he needs to complete 100 career goals. Keith Jones is now fit, but we might well see the same team out as started the game at Bristol Rovers, particularly as Reading's goals last time out came from Neil Smith and Phil Parkinson. The only reason for a change would be if Parkinson is not certified fit after his injury on Tuesday.
According to the Gloucestershire Echo, Cheltenham Town have made a bid to take Sammy Igoe on loan, and not too surprisingly we have turned them down. Igoe scored the second goal in our friendly at Whaddon Road in July, but I can't really believe that they ever thought we would let him leave, even temporarily. Cheltenham have got problems with injuries at the moment, and have a fairly small squad anyway - they are also looking for a striker, so I wonder if we might just have suggested Keith Scott to make the trip there instead.
The results from the games that do go ahead today mean that Reading drop one place to sixth, due to a late winner for Stoke who now have one more point than we do (having played one more game). However the four teams starting the day ahead of us manage one win, one draw, one defeat and one postponement between them, so overall it's not been too bad a day.
With Reading's game for today called off, let's look at some of our future fixtures. We're due to visit Luton on 27th January, but that is also FA Cup 4th round day. Luton are at home to Queens Park Rangers in Round 3, and given QPR's current abysmal form our League game might yet be called off. Similarly the rearranged fixture away to Bournemouth on 6th February would clash with any FA Cup 4th round replay. Bournemouth are at home to Gillingham in the 3rd round - you'd expect the Kent club to win through, but then you would have expected Millwall to go through against the non-leaguers from Wycombe. There's more! - our home game with Peterborough is on FA Cup 5th round day, and Peterborough are still in the Cup as well. On the other hand, they're away to Chelsea in Round 3 and so probably not really expecting to get that much further.
In theory, the rearranged date for the Swindon away game should take account of the fact that Swindon are still in the Cup, but with a home tie against Coventry in Round 3, this is unlikely to be a concern. The most obvious date for the rearranged fixture is 13th February or 13th March.
Now obviously the main consideration for Reading's game at Swindon tomorrow was whether it would in fact go ahead. There was a pitch inspection this morning (although many Reading fans would also have been wondering exactly what the state of the open bank of seating would be by Saturday) and the game has been postponed. As told on Wednesday, the scheduled referee was David Elleray - let's hope we get him for the rearranged game, or better still for one of our important home games later in the season.
Current predictions have it that the home game with Northampton on 1st January will go ahead.
The FA announce that Villa Park will stage the finals of both the FA Trophy and FA Vase this season. There had been some talk about the Vase final being staged at Madejski Stadium, but I am sure the two finalists would rather play at a Premiership ground with no squatters.
In a bad-tempered match with a typically clueless referee, Reading draw 2-2 away to Bristol Rovers and stay fifth in the table. Neil Smith and Phil Parkinson get the goals. This counts firmly as two points thrown away, rather than one gained. For a match report, click here. Bristol Rovers have two men sent off, but the referee gives us no chance to capitalise on this fact, by allowing a ludicrously short amount of injury time. The goalscorers had a rough time of it - Phil Parkinson is stretchered off, and Neil Smith is lucky still to have two legs after being on the receiving end of the single worst challenge I have seen in 29 years of watching Reading. Before the injury, Parky also picked up a booking which means a one-game suspension. This will start on Tuesday, 9th January so that he will miss the LDV Vans game at Hereford. However, that game will not count to his suspension and he will also miss the Stoke away game the following Saturday. In any event, this may all be academic depending on how bad his injury is.
David Elleray states in an article in The Times that he is refereeing a Nationwide game in Swindon next Saturday. So that must be our game, then. On even a bad day he is going to look head and shoulders above some of the pillocks we have seen this season.
Stoke City get a crowd of 16,499 for their home game with Bury, dropping Reading's highest attendance down to the third best in the division. Obviously, as soon as we have a home derby match on a Bank Holiday, we'll beat them though. Oh, wait a minute we don't have any home derby matches on Bank Holidays this year.
Jamie Cureton fails to get into the Sport First Team of the Week despite his three goals on Saturday - instead they choose two forwards who failed to score one goal between them!
Reading beat Luton 4-1 in a typical home display, and producing a repeat of the Simod Cup Final scoreline. Reading move up to fifth in the table - for a match report, click here. Incredibly, the match is played without a single drop of rain - the first such Reading home game for over two months. Jamie Cureton gets his second hat-trick of the season - the first time a Reading player has managed that feat since Trevor Senior in 1985/86. Cureton is now joint second top scorer in Division 2 League matches but joint top if you include goals in all competitions. Barry Hunter scored the other goal - his first of the season.
The Bristol derby at Ashton Gate gets a crowd of 16,696, which is the highest in Division 2 this season, taking the record from Reading's home game with Oxford (16,022). Bristol City win and go above Reading who slip to sixth in the table.
We have two games coming up in the next four days, Luton on Saturday and Bristol Rovers on Tuesday, which really should result in six points. Luton's last six League games have seen them win one, draw one and lose four, conceding 15 goals in the process. Bristol Rovers have failed to win at home in the League all season and at the moment their fans are conducting major protests against the manager as they head inexorably towards relegation. Despite Reading's defeat on Tuesday, we are still fifth in the League and neither of these two clubs are looking forward to playing against us.
Some players come up against their old clubs in these games - Lee Nogan is on loan at Luton and will no doubt have a blinder against us. But we must also remember that he was pretty awful for us for some considerable time before he left Reading, and then acquired the nickname Lee No-goals whilst playing in Division 3. Luton only extended Nogan's loan period because Brian Stein is suspended for three games.
Then the next game will see Jamie Cureton return to Bristol - I think he can expect major stick from the home fans, not least for having appeared to have left their club for one more ambitious, so let's hope that he rises to the occasion. Also, Michael Meaker might conceivably make an appearance for Bristol Rovers - I did say that they were in dire trouble and that would prove it. Finally, Rovers have been trying to sign Mark McKeever this week - at the moment the deal is off because Rovers don't want him on loan and Sheffield Wednesday aren't keen to sell. In any event, McKeever has been out injured for a long time (with some talk about his career being over), so even if the deal does get resurrected he should not pose the threat that he did in a certain previous game between Reading and Bristol Rovers.
A couple of things to look out for at the Memorial Ground in Bristol - they're currently doing some building work to put a roof over part of the uncovered area. I think that we can safely assume that it will not be over the away section, though. Also, at last season's home game Bristol Rovers moved the away dugout to about level with the penalty spot. For this season they had moved it back to the centre, so if it is not at the centre they have given Reading some special treatment. Of course, if it is near the centre of the pitch, it will be worth looking out for any confrontations between Martin Allen and the Bristol Rovers manager, Ian Holloway (that's unless Holloway is spending his time swearing at the Bristol Rovers fans as he did at their last home game, or unless he's already been sacked before we reach Bristol).
Reading say that they plan to try and get the referee to review the red card that he gave Jim McIntyre in yesterday's reserve game (actually, it was two yellow cards). Of course, referees are not noted for changing their minds on such decisions, and not so long ago the only possible appeal against a red card was mistaken identity. The fact that McIntyre's dismissal was for two bookable offences should mean that even if the appeal is unsuccessful, he is only suspended for one game. That one game would be the visit of Millwall to Madejski stadium on Saturday, 6th January.
Also in the reserve game, Graeme Murty played 90 minutes on his return from his latest injury, whilst Marciano Vink made his first appearance in a Reading shirt as part of his week-long trial. Unfortunately Vink got injured and had to go off, a problem that has dogged his career. This means that his trial is now over, and he is not expected to return.
The diving cheat Mark Stein began a three-game suspension on Tuesday, meaning that he will be missing for Reading's home game against Luton on Saturday.
Hereford United confirm that the LDV Vans Trophy game will take place on Tuesday, 9th January, with a 7:45pm kickoff.
Reading's reserves lose 2-1 away to Fulham and unless Swindon suffer a huge defeat at Barnet remain fourth in the table. Nathan Tyson got the goal, whilst Jim McIntyre got sent off in an incident that saw a Fulham player booked. This means that McIntyre will be suspended for at least the Millwall league game, plus possibly more depending on how his offence rates. For match details, click here.
David Downs reveals that he is looking to bring out a new version of "Biscuits and Royals" in 2002, given that so much has happened in the few years since the last version came out. The book will be published by Tempus Publishing Limited, who are also the publishers of his current book, "100 Greats", which includes biographies, statistics and a photo of each of Reading's greatest 100 players (in David's opinion!).
The programme "World Football" has a feature on Trinidad & Tobago players who currently appear for English or Scottish clubs. Tony Rougier doesn't get a mention, but there is a short interview with Shaka Hislop. The programme will be shown again on Sky Sports 1 at 4:30pm on Thursday. "World Football" is normally also shown on ITV in one of the graveyard 3am slots but I can't see it in my local listings this week.
Tuesday night's key results: Reading 1 York City 3, Wycombe Wanderers 2 Millwall 1, Notts County 2 Wigan 1, Hereford United 4 Yeovil Town 0. This means that Reading are out of the FA Cup (obviously), the strictly all-ticket reserved seating League game against Millwall will go ahead on the original date of Saturday, 6th January, the Sky live game at home to Wigan (scheduled for FA Cup quarter-final weekend) will definitely take place, and Reading's trip in the LDV Vans Trophy 2nd round will be to Edgar Street in Hereford. Adi Viveash was booked against York, and so will miss the Millwall game having reached five yellow cards for the season.
The Reading game sees the Royals unable to turn possession into goals and a diabolical linesman's decision means that York are able to get their key second goal in the last minute (the third came in injury time as Reading pushed forward for an equaliser). The match did however see 90 minutes from Darren Caskey who scored our goal, suggesting that his immediate future at the club is a bit more secure than it had appeared just recently. For match details (report to follow), click here.
Tuesday's preview: Reading face York tonight in an FA Cup 2nd round replay, kick-off 7.45pm. Given the Royals' performance in the second half at Notts County on Saturday, I think there is a good chance that we will put out the same side as started that half (so that Darren Caskey starts the game). However, news stories on Monday seem to imply that Tony Rougier may not start, presumably with Jamie Cureton taking his place, meaning that the change from Saturday's starting line-up would be Caskey for Rougier. Because of suspension against Grays and whatever reason at York, Caskey has yet to play an FA Cup tie this season. If he is not in the 16 for tonight's game, that will be a definite sign that we are looking to sell him to a team without him being cup-tied for the season. Another story on Monday is that Graeme Murty is fit again, but unlikely to feature in this match against his old club.
An interesting sub-plot to the game will be the probable presence on the pitch of York City villain Kevin Hulme who was sent off in the first game after a series of horrendous challenges. He was lucky to still be on the pitch near the end when an attempt to break Adi Viveash's left leg saw him receive his second yellow card. Then as he left the pitch he had an argument with Keith Jones. Incredibly York said that they would appeal against the sending-off decision, but they haven't actually done so and were obviously just spouting rubbish to the press to try and get a sympathy vote. Hulme deserves to be on the end of some serious stick from the Reading fans to put him off his game - it worked at the last home game with the Cambridge United right-back, and it can work again. Hulme wears the number 7 shirt.
York are claiming that they have a number of players who will be out with injury, including Reading reject Graeme Potter and the aforementioned Kevin Hulme. I don't know if anyone is stupid enough to believe them on this, though - it's just a typical attempt by a poxy small-time club to get a psychological edge.
I haven't seen anything stating who the referee for the game will be, but it is normal in cup replays to have the same one as for the first match, which would mean Peter Walton of Winwick. He seemed loathe to book players for bad fouls in the game at Bootham Crescent, but overall I didn't think he had too bad a game.
If Reading win (or if Millwall win their 2nd round replay at Wycombe), then our League game at home to Millwall on Saturday, 6th January will be postponed. The winners of the Reading-York tie will be away to Leicester City.
Also scheduled for tonight is the LDV Vans Trophy 1st round clash between Hereford United and Yeovil Town, with the winners at home to Reading in the 2nd round.
Colin Lee is sacked as manager of Wolves, which will surely lead to speculation about him returning to Reading in some capacity. Can't see it myself, though, and in any event his record at Wolves is nothing short of appalling. A knock-on effect is that the Wolves assistant manager John Ward is now acting as caretaker-manager at Wolves. He was high up on the list of potential managers for Bristol Rovers, should Ian Holloway lose his job in the near future (something that looks more and more likely every game).
The Port Vale chairman Bill Bell threatens to close his club down during this season following barracking from some home fans. If this does happen (and it is of course extremely unlikely), then we would lose the three hard-earned away points that we got at Vale Park in September.
Reading lose 3-2 at Notts County, with Notts County player Ian Richardson and our own Phil Parkinson getting our goals. However, the second half of this match sees the best Reading performance for two months, even if the result didn't go the right way this time. We stay fifth in the table although have lost ground on two of the teams above us. For a match report, click here.
If you'd looked at this page of the site earlier, you might have seen that I'd credited Adi Viveash with Reading's first goal. Well all I can say is that it was at the far end of the pitch, Adi was very close to the ball when it flew off a head and into the net, the tannoy announcer gave him the goal, and that Adi himself appeared by his fist-clenching actions to be claiming it! Anyway, if the goal does go down in history as an own goal from Ian Richardson, this is the second one he has scored for Reading in two years, as he also scored our winner at Madejski Stadium the season before last. This makes an interesting comparison with a Reading player of that period, as follows:
| Name | Games played for Reading | Goals scored for Reading |
| Paul Brayson | 48 | 1 |
| Ian Richardson | 0 | 2 |
So WITHOUT EVEN TRYING, Ian Richardson has managed to EXCEED the Reading goal tally of striker Paul Brayson!
In the second round of the LDV Vans Trophy, there are unfortunately no byes. Instead Reading draw away to either Hereford United or Yeovil Town, who are scheduled to meet at Edgar Street this Tuesday to see who gets the right to host us. The 2nd round game is supposed to take place in the week beginning Monday, 8th January, which in practice is likely to mean Tuesday, 9th January. However, there's always a chance that the first round clash next week will again fall foul of the weather (in which case it would have to wait until at least 9th January), and in any event Yeovil already have a game scheduled for Tuesday, 9th January (although this would probably have to give way for an LDV Vans Trophy game).
Our Under-17 Academy team played away to bottom-placed winless Bristol City and lost 6-1 (despite the fact that the Bristol City Under-19 Academy game for today was called off and was to be played at the same sports complex as the Under-17s). The Under-19s drew 1-1 away to Queens Park Rangers. Click on the results for match details.
Tomorrow sees Reading heading to Notts County, a side who were last able to play a home game seven weeks ago. It appears that the weather is going to allow the game to go ahead. Reading are likely to field the same side as started at York, with Darren Caskey getting on to the bench but no further. Whatever happens, Reading will remain in fifth place in the table.
The scheduled referee is Trevor Jones from Barrow. This man witnessed one of our best performances in recent times when he was in charge of our 3-1 "Massacre at the Manor" win over Oxford in March. This might make up for the fact that he was also in charge for our defeats at Stoke last season, Wigan the season before and Stockport in the season before that.
According to the Evening Post, Reading are to take Dutchman Marciano Vink on trial for a week starting on Monday. Vink is a 30-year-old right-sided midfielder from Surinam, who started his professional career at Ajax where he helped win the 1992 UEFA Cup, and played the last ten minutes of the second leg of the final. He moved to Genoa for around £2m but only played 13 games in Serie A for them before returning to Holland and PSV Eindhoven. Last season he was with ADO Den Haag in the Dutch second division. He has also won two Dutch caps. (Mind you, the Post also report that Graeme Murty is back in training so it is possible that they had a few too many to drink before going to press.)
Looks like Reading's decision to bring forward the reserve League Cup match against Bristol Rovers from today to Monday night was a good one. Farnborough's scheduled home game in the Ryman League tonight (which I assume was the reason for the switch) was postponed due to - wait for it - a waterlogged pitch. We also did well to get our game at York out of the way, because their LDV Vans Trophy game at home to Darlington (which fell foul of the weather last week) was called off again tonight due to parts of the Bootham Crescent pitch being waterlogged. I wonder if it's pushing our luck too much to expect Saturday's game at Notts County to go ahead as well - if so, it will be the first game at Meadow Lane to go ahead for seven weeks!
Trinidad & Tobago have withdrawn from the 2001 Millennium Super Soccer Cup, a tournament to be held in India in January 2001. Officially this is because of the tight schedule caused by the draw in the Final Round of their 2002 World Cup qualifiers, but it may also be connected with manager Ian Porterfield's current trip around England and Scotland visiting the clubs of the bulk of his squad. I am certain that those clubs will have made it quite clear that they did not want to release players for this extra tournament, given the ten World Cup qualifiers to be played during 2001. Porterfield has been in Scotland this week and, as far as I know, has yet to speak to Reading. For further details of future international games affecting Reading players, visit the new International Dates section on this website.
Reading's reserves draw 1-1 with Bristol Rovers in Group B of the Avon Insurance Combination League Cup tonight. For a match report, click here. To see the latest Group table, click here.
Tickets for the short trip to Swindon on 30th December go on sale to season ticket holders, and are on general sale from Monday, 18th December. We've got over 3,000 to shift.
In the FA Cup 3rd round draw, Reading are drawn away to Leicester City. Obviously this is assuming that our players can be bothered to turn up on Tuesday week to see off York. Leicester, England and former Gillingham manager Peter Taylor said "I know about Reading from last year, they've got a lot of good players and a good manager, but we're at home and we have to be happy about that." He appears to have discounted York completely!
Rather surprisingly, Reading's FA Cup clash with York City goes ahead. It's a 2-2 draw with Ricky Newman and Martin Butler (with the aid of a deflection) getting the goals. For a match report, click here. We'll try again on Tuesday, 19th December at 7:45pm. Obviously this means that we are in the 3rd round draw, which takes place between 5:45pm and 6:15pm tomorrow, and is live on ITV.
Whilst this will come as a shock to absolutely no-one, the LDV Vans Trophy 2nd round draw did not take place today, as originally planned. Instead, it is now scheduled for next Saturday, 16th December, and again will be live on Sky Sports' Soccer AM programme at around 10am.
York announce that tomorrow's game is subject to a 9am pitch inspection. If the match is called off, it will be played on Tuesday, 19th December. For news of the pitch inspection, ring York City on 01904 624447.
Assuming that the game does go ahead, we can expect to see the same team as last Saturday, unless Alan Pardew decides to recall Ricky Newman instead of Alan Gurney. Although it's wrong to be overconfident about such matters, a Reading team performing at anything like our usual standard should beat York fairly comfortably regardless of when the game is played.
The scheduled referee is Peter Walton of Winwick (in Northamptonshire) - he took charge of our home game with Wycombe in October, as well as our 2-0 defeat at home to Wigan last season (you remember, the one where their forward fell over in the area in the last minute and incredibly got a penalty), and the 2-1 home victory over Stoke the season before last.
The 2nd round draw of the LDV Vans Trophy is provisionally scheduled for this Saturday, 9th December, and again will be live on Sky Sports' Soccer AM programme. The games are supposed to be played in the week beginning January 8th, although as there are still two outstanding ties in the Southern Section this may not happen as planned. The current likeliest venue for the final is apparently Villa Park, on the basis that the game will feature one team from the Northern Section and one from the Southern Section.
The date and time of next week's reserve league cup clash at home to Bristol Rovers has changed - the match is now at 7pm on Monday, 11th December (previously scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday), but is still at the ground of Farnborough Town.
According to the club's website, Simieon Howell
is in the frame for the next group of England Under-15 games.
England play in what the Football Association describe as an
"international friendly tournament" against Spain,
Holland and Germany in February. Dates and venues are as follows:
9th February, 2001 - Spain (Rushden and Diamonds FC, 8pm)
22nd February, 2001 - Holland (Crawley Town FC, 8pm)
24th February, 2001 - Germany (Southend United FC, 8pm)
Note that kick-off times for games of this nature can often vary
nearer the date.
You may have noticed that the diving cheat, Mark Stein, was sent off for Luton in the LDV Vans Trophy last night. He will be suspended for at least one game, and unless Luton draw their FA Cup 2nd round game at Darlington the game he will miss will be against Reading. In fact, he may well get banned for three games, as his dismissal was for a late tackle that might be considered to be violent conduct.
Frenchman Guilliaume Norbert finally signs with Reading on a one month trial contract. He also plays in the reserves' 2-0 win against Leyton Orient at Palmer Park this afternoon. Click here for a match report.
York City's home game in the LDV Vans Trophy tonight is called off due to a waterlogged pitch following a torrential downpour. Obviously this is a bit worrying with Reading due to visit Bootham Crescent in the FA Cup on Saturday. I've seen conflicting weather forecasts for York for the rest of this week - one says there will be little or no rain before Saturday, whilst the other says that there will be one day of heavy rain on Thursday.
Meanwhile Notts County's fixture problems continue with their FA Cup 1st round game now scheduled for this Friday (at 3pm!). They, Wigan and Gravesend have arranged a schedule of provisional dates for playing the second round tie, plus any replays. These dates are 12th December, 19th December and 6th January, so will not affect Reading's scheduled League game in Nottingham on 16th December. Obviously however, there is still the question of the Notts County pitch which is due to be ready to host games from this week.
Tomorrow's reserve game with Leyton Orient has been switched from Brisbane Road to Palmer Park, kick-off 1pm (but subject to a morning pitch inspection). Does anyone else find it a bit strange that with grounds all over the country failing to stage matches, Palmer Park manages to be suitable all the time?
If there's a replay needed from the York City FA Cup tie on Saturday, it will be on Tuesday, 19th December.
The trip to Bournemouth is rearranged for Tuesday, 6th February, with a 7.45pm kick-off. However that is also the date for FA Cup 4th round replays so it's still not definite. If you can't make the rearranged date and want a refund on your ticket, you have to contact Bournemouth on 01202 397939 (even if you bought the ticket from Reading, as I guess most people reading this will have done). Although I'll be going to the game whenever it's played, I rang up Bournemouth to see how they would do this. Firstly, it's patently obvious that they have no clue at all about how to manage this process - I was told that because I bought my ticket by Switch the refund would have to be via Switch, but the operator didn't want to know my Switch card number!!!!!! (Some new information - apparently most of the Bournemouth office staff were off on a training day today, leaving one woman to answer the phone!)
As far as I'm concerned, this whole system stinks - if Reading fans want a refund, they should be able to take the ticket back to the Reading ticket office. (And what's going to happen in the future? If you buy a ticket for a game from the Wembley Ticket Office because you were automatically directed to them, do you have to get in touch with them for a refund? Or will refunds only be given in person at the away ground?)
On Sunday night, Alan Pardew fails to win the BBC South Sports Awards Manager of the Year (for which he was one of the three nominees), being beaten by John Derbyshire, manager of the British Olympic yachting team.
Reading get back on track by beating Cambridge United 3-0 with goals from the relatively unusual sources of Adrian Viveash, Phil Parkinson and Andy Gurney. We stay fifth in the League table, although only two of the clubs above us managed to win. Matthew Robinson makes his comeback from injury, whilst Darren Caskey begins the match on the bench and can only watch as Jamie Cureton misses a penalty (and as Andy Gurney makes a play for his title of free-kick specialist!). For a match report, click here.
As reported yesterday, the Under-17 game at home to Arsenal is postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Cantley.
Reading's Under-16 Academy midfielder, Simieon Howell, makes his England debut against Scotland in the Victory Shield at Chester's Deva Stadium. 1871 will have a more detailed report on this in the features section from Monday. (Simieon will have further chances to gain England caps in a tournament against Holland, Germany and Spain, as well as two further tournaments played in France and Ireland later this season.)
Reading take on Cambridge United at home tomorrow. Ricky Newman will miss the game serving his one match suspension, and we can assume that Matthew Robinson and Tony Rougier will be fit after they both played in Wednesday's reserve game. That surely means that Robinson will start at left back, with Andy Gurney switching to right back. Although Darren Caskey got some match practice on Wednesday, I think it likely that Sammy Igoe will retain his place on the right of midfield with Caskey on the bench. Similarly, Lee Hodges should continue on the left with Rougier on the bench. The other possibility would be to play Caskey in the centre in place of Keith Jones, but I don't think Alan Pardew will do that.
Martin Butler is certain to play against his old team, and will hopefully be looking to excel. Normally, players will raise their game against an old club (although Butler looked a bit out of sorts at Walsall). Last season's game saw a small and very badly organised pitch invasion at the final whistle - the chances of that happening again must be pretty remote!
With Millwall away to Rotherham, there should also be a good chance for Reading to close the gap on the sides above us. Incidentally, so far this season Millwall have only played two of the top eleven clubs away from home, and have lost both of those games. Walsall and Wigan have also played very few away games against the top clubs, whilst as we well know Reading have played all of the top sides away. That must surely have had an effect on the league table so far.
The Under-19 Academy game at home to Fulham, rearranged for today, is called off. According to the lad forking the pitch, it was because of the heavy overnight rain. Tomorrow's Under-17 match at home to Arsenal has also been called off.
The Boxing Day trip to Bristol Rovers is all-ticket, with 1,132 tickets on sale to season ticket holders from Monday, 4th December. It's £11 for adults, £5.50 for concessions, with any remaining going on general sale from Monday, 11th December. The away game at Swindon four days later will also be all-ticket - details to follow.
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