When : Saturday January 24, 3pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
Barnsley are on a run of 1 win in 5 league games which isn’t particularly brilliant form by any measure. Unusually for them at this level they aren’t floating in and around the top 6 but have instead been drifting about in the lower half of the table but all too often, whether home or away, we’ve seen Reading fail miserably against teams stuck in these sorts of malaises.
Threat is simply 11 goal (14 in all competitions) Davis Keillor-Dunn who is attracting a lot of interest from Championship clubs like Preston, Charlton & Middlesbrough so keep your fingers crossed that a deal may be done for him before Saturday. After Davis the big threat is the pacey and lively winger Reyes Cleary who got the man of the match award in Barnsley’s defeat at Anfield in the FA Cup last Monday week. In addition we will likely have to face the right royal pain in the arse David McGoldrick again.
As per usual, with nearly every opponent in this division, Barnsley bring a Reading connection with them in the form of full back Tennai Watson who joined the club in August from Charlton. Thankfully though Caylan Vickers has returned to Brighton after a decent loan spell.
Conor Hourihane usually favours a 4-3-2-1 formation. They signed winger Charlie Lennon from Middlesbrough last week so he may well make his debut forming a front 3 with Keillor-Dunn and and Cleary.
Reading’s good run came to an end at the usual Brisbane Road Graveyard last week with another dreadful away performance featuring the standard tepid slow game start. Thankfully this one is at home and Reading need a response - and more to get their playoff bandwagon back onto 4 wheels and moving. Last time Barnsley visited, Reading just needed 3 points to sneak a play off appearance but didn’t turn up and were played off the park, really hope LR looks at that game and instils a “thou shalt not pass” mindset into the players.
Elliott is now out for the season and Randell was added to the injury list last week but hopefully there is still sufficient options available to claim a very much needed 3 points from this one. Derrick W might be back though.
Referee
Leigh “still no league wins for Reading” Doughty
Previously
08 Aug 23 > Millwall 0-4 Reading (League Cup)
15 Mar 22 > Bournemouth 1-1 Reading
28 Aug 21 > Huddersfield Town 4-0 Reading
25 Nov 20 > Millwall 1-1 Reading
Historically
Overall this game is the Tykes' 40th league trip to Reading and they've won 8 of the previous 39 games in total compared to Reading's 21 victories. Of the 10 league draws in Reading 8 of them have finished 0-0.
But in recent times Barnsley have had an annoying habit of turning up, being dour, and going home with 3 points as 5 of those 8 Barnsley wins have been in the last 10 games played.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket, it is Louisiana day after all
- 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)
