When : Saturday 26th February 2022, 3pm
Where : Bloomfield Road, Seasiders Way, Blackpool, FY1 6JJ
Capacity : 17,338
It’s February and the weather is crap so in Reading terms that means it must be time for a trip to the seaside, still at least it’s not a Tuesday in January like it was for the last visit.
Blackpool are doing much better than Reading, I know that may seem a bit hard to believe given the season so far but you can't deny that they’ve scaled to the heights of 15th in the division which is somewhere Reading can only dream of this time round.
Having safely gathered 42 points so far, Blackpool are already as much the proverbial end of season “nothing much to play for” club that you can get and their form is pretty much as nondescript as possible with 3 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats from the last 11.
Shane Lavery, Jerry Yates and Gary Madine form a very potent forward line for the Tangerines with 27 league goals between them so this needs to be game where the Reading management successfully devise a plan to cut the supply and therefore frustrate the forward options. This will not be easy as Blackpool have scored in every game they’ve played since losing at Derby on 11th December.
Reading might be helped a little in their cause though as Blackpool’s current injury list is actually as bad as that of Reading with 8 currently receiving treatment; Sonny Carey, Richard Keogh, Grant Ward, Chris Maxwell, James Husband, Keshi Anderson, Marty Virtue and Luke Garbutt and there does seem to be a bit of a toll being taken as QPR only needed 10 men to beat Blackpool last night - not that that would make it any easier given Reading's problems really.
Forgetting the “injured for the rest of the season” Araruna, Reading currently have 7 crocks; Azeez, Ejaria, Dann, Laurent, Rahman, Tetek and Halilovic. Biggest question will be at left back where McIntyre will, at the moment, continue to fill in but having been injured for quite some time how is he going to be able to handle 2 games in 4 days plus a long journey north so wondering if Reading may find a free agent somewhere in the next day or two to help take the strain.
Blackpool was also Paul Ince's last management gig, leaving in 2014 after 12 wins from 42 games, so he may well get a certain amount of stick off the 'pool fans.
Referee
Peter Bankes
Previously
25 Sep 2021 > Reading 1-0 Middlesbrough
25 Sep 2019 > Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Reading (League Cup)
21 Aug 2019 > West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Reading
16 Mar 2019 > Stoke City 0-0 Reading
16 Dec 2017 > Ipswich Town 2-0 Reading
25 Feb 2017 > Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Reading
21 Jan 2017 > Derby County 3-2 Reading
30 Jan 2016 > Reading 4-0 Walsall (FA Cup)
20 Dec 2015 > Reading 1-0 Blackburn Rovers
08 Aug 2015 > Birmingham City 2-1 Reading
Historically
Bloomfield Road has not been particularly hospitable to Reading down the years, the first 5 games played at the venue saw 0 points returned and 22 goals conceded (including the heaviest defeat there of 7-0) so there is something by way of a precedent already set to some degree as Reading’s current defence wobbles precariously into town.
There have been 20 league visits in total to this part of the coast and Reading have won on 5 occasions while losing on 10 but haven’t won on any of the last 5 league visits (earning just 2 points) so a point would probably be a good return from this outing.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use a RoyalTV subscription (presuming you can get the commentary working at all)
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)