When : Friday 16 April 2021, 6pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161

The fight for points goes on and another game that Reading really must not lose hoves into view and this week it’s the turn of Cardiff City to take their chances at the Mad Stad.

The Bluebirds have been a bit of everything this season, starting off as OK but nothing spectacular they hit a dreadful run of defeats which saw Neil Harris replaced by the wily Mick McCarthy and it was no real surprise that his arrival saw the club start collecting points like they were going out of fashion and consequently getting talked up as play off hopefuls. However the necessary game of catch-up appears to have caught up with them recently and they are now on a run of 0 wins in 3 games and 1 win in the last 7 but that win was at Swansea so they remain capable if Reading do not do their homework on them properly.

Kieffer Moore is the right royal pain in the neck that Reading will need to be particularly watchful of as he has bagged 16 goals from his 37 appearances. Then there’s Joe Ralls and Will Vaulks who seem to be regular nuisances to Reading plus Cardiff’s ex Reading contingent of Sean Morrison and Leandro Bacuna. Finally we should all be able to see what we missed as one time rumoured Reading target, Perry Ng, joined Cardiff in January and has pretty much played every game since.

Sean Morrison should have recovered from injury for Cardiff while Reading will hope to finally be able to name John Swift in the matchday squad. Tom McIntyre and Michael Morrison remain sidelined though Omar Richards should return to the starting XI.

And, finally, it's on the telly and so Reading will be trying for their 7th win from the last 27 games live on Sky.

Referee

John “no Reading wins” Brooks

Previously....

04 Nov 20 > Reading 0-3 Preston North End
04 Jan 20 > Reading 2-2 Blackpool (FA Cup 3)
27 Apr 19 > Middlesbrough 2-1 Reading
09 Feb 19 > Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Reading
26 Jan 18 > Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 Reading (FA Cup 4)
23 Dec 17 > Reading 1-2 Burton Albion

Historically

Cardiff are one of those fairly regular opponents of Reading with games stretching all the way back to Southern League days. Since joining the FL though there have been 61 league games with this game being the 31st at home against them. Of the previous 30 games Reading have won 13 and drawn 11 with the remaining 6 games going the way of the Welsh

Reading though have not been having the best of times at home against Cardiff recently as only 2 wins have been mustered from the last 11 games in all competitions though most of those games finished as 1-1.

Finally, Reading are really cr@p at keeping clean sheets in home league fixtures against Cardiff having managed only one in the last 19 attempts.

How to follow the game

1. Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes


2. Ring/text a mate for updates


3. Use an iFollow subscription


4. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)


5. It’s on SKY

that's not a bluebird on the crest, nothing like.

It's a swallow of some sort.

We should refuse to fulfill the fixture, and request the League give us the three points.

I fear a defeat here and season over, similar to the Boro game recently, we just don't cope with these type of sides like the other top sides have been able to. Seen some of their games on Sky since McCarthy took over and they are 1980's style direct, like Dave Basset and Howard Wilkinson's sides back then, think McCarthy actually played under Wilkinson.

They actually have some good players, but midfield is completely bypassed as any throw ins in our half will be hurled into the box by Vaulks with the big centre halves coming forward, and the keeper takes all dead ball situations in their half and kicks long to Moore.

Its fine when you are winning and the fans tolerate it but when the results go the other way they soon get restless as happened at Ipswich and indeed at Reading all those years ago under Branfoot, despite the Simod success and promotion to the second tier.

Don't get me wrong its can be effective as a plan b or to counter opposition on occasion but generally (agree not always) the sides that go up are possession based sides.

Anything other than a win and the season is done.

And if we win you can say the same again on Tuesday against Luton....and so on until its over

The season is done when maths says so.

Don't know why you're all so frantic, we wouldn't win the POs anyway.

Think it’s important to go out of the season on a bit of a high whether we get 6th or not

Would really like to see us win this at least 3 of the last 5

To any Cardiff fans or officials who might be lurking let me say this. Swansea can still fall out of the play-offs, it's unlikely but it could still happen, so it is in your best interest to lose to us tomorrow.

Thank you for your time.

I think we'll get a draw tomorrow and that will be it for the season.

Sean Morrison has failed to recover sufficiently and will miss the game tomorrow as will long term absentee Lee Tomlin.

Not that I ever want to wish an injury on anyone, but this prick always scores against us, so I am not unhappy he isn't playing tomorrow

Tomlin must be one of the few players in the league who's injured more than Swift

Joao and Richards start, Swift on bench

We're unbeaten with Swift on the team sheet this season. It's only 9 games granted but still a decent record.

Hard to argue with much of that. Decent XI. Would imagine Swift comes on between 60-70mins to get some fitness and with a view to start the next one.

Although I’m not sure who you drop from that XI to get him in. Would have to be Ovie and shift Olise wide, I guess, but he’s been pretty decent last few games and I’m not a huge fan of Olise out wide.

If anything, Meite hasn't come back in the form you would expect of him so maybe he's the one to make way.

Can’t argue with the side really. Looks strong, strong options on the bench. No excuses

Strong bench plus Baldock and Aluko.

If anything, Meite hasn't come back in the form you would expect of him so maybe he's the one to make way.

Maybe not, but he is something different and I think Olise, Ovie and Swift are way too similar to all play in the same side.

Strong bench plus Baldock and Aluko.
I actually like Aluko as a squad option, just hard to ignore how much we paid for him and what wages he is likely to be on.

Absolutely spot on. No excuses tonight. Strong team. Strong bench. In a nutshell....MUST be a win.

Fine with the team apart from Joao ahead of Puscas.

Last throw of the dice tonight.
Strong team....and the advantage of playing first.
Let's hope the 2 above feel a bit of pressure if we win.

Oh well, Joao starts another game.

Prove me wrong man!

Great start from Moore there.

Repeat after me. Liam Moore is not very good.

6 minutes in and we look pretty shit. Urgent, but shit. Everyone giving the ball away cheaply.

This is not very good.

Fcuk off Olise

Christ how many free kicks have we given away already?