Reading Hope To Avoid Another Away Defeat

By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading hit the road again this weekend for the trip to Blackburn Rovers - and will be hoping to avoid a third consecutive away defeat to nil. Reading's last two away games have seen a 0-5 stuffing at Fulham and a 0-2 reverse at Leeds United. Those defeats have been surrounded by home wins to keep Reading in the top three in the Championship. Blackburn should give a different type of challenge to the Royals as they remain in the bottom three - despite last months 1-0 away win over league leaders Newcastle. Since then Rovers have picked up just a point but suffered narrow 2-3 defeats at the hands of Preston and second placed Brighton. The season may have been tough on Blackburn so far but they are certainly showing signs of recovery as they look to climb out of the bottom three before the end of the year.

The home side have a defensive crisis going on with four central defenders ruled out. Charlie Mulgrew, Tommie Hoban and Elliott Ward are likely to miss out through injury and Gordon Greer is suspended for the visit of Reading. Reading will be without Danny Williams as he completes his suspension and John Swift is not yet ready to return to action. That means Jaap Stam is likely to keep a similar line up to the midweek defeat at Leeds.

The Royals dominated possession against Leeds on Tuesday but failed to create much up front, leading the home fans to label Stam's side as "boring". That label is unlikely to stop Stam adopting a similar approach this Saturday after he claimed Reading had played well at Elland Road and deserved something from the game. Reading will be hoping for possession football with an end product to improve their record away from the Madejski Stadium.

Reading have won just once against Blackburn in their last ten attempts. That win came last season, almost exactly a year ago, when Danny Williams scored the only goal of the game at the Madejski Stadium. With recent history, and Reading's recent away results, Blackburn are favourites for the win:

Blackburn Win: 8/5
Draw: 12/5
Reading Win: 19/10

Recent Meetings With BLACKBURN

DATE	COMPETITION	OPPOSITION	SCORE	REPORT
07 May 2016	Championship	Blackburn (Away)	L: 1-3	Read report...
20 December 2015	Championship	Blackburn (HOME)	W: 1-0	Read report...
11 April 2015	Championship	Blackburn (HOME)	D: 0-0	Read report...
01 November 2014	Championship	Blackburn (Away)	L: 1-3	Read report...
22 February 2014	Championship	Blackburn (HOME)	L: 0-1	Read report...
23 November 2013	Championship	Blackburn (Away)	D: 0-0	Read report...
29 March 2008	Premiership	Blackburn (HOME)	D: 0-0	Read report...
20 October 2007	Premiership	Blackburn (Away)	L: 2-4	Read report...
13 May 2007	Premiership	Blackburn (Away)	D: 3-3	Read report...
16 December 2006	Premiership	Blackburn (HOME)	L: 1-2	Read report...

Reading and Blackburn - Head to head record (since August 1994)
Games Between Reading and Blackburn	10
Reading Wins	1
Blackburn Wins	5
Draws	4
Reading Goals	9
Blackburn Goals	16
Average Goals Per Game	2.5

From the Discussion

SU Sutekh 16 Dec 2016 · 4:03pm

http://www.thehardtackle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Blackburn-Rovers-logo.png http://www.logotypes101.com/logos/686/F7AAECB00AAC35B61DC59BA260C4B0D6/Reading_Football_Club.png And it's straight back up north to visit Blackburn again only 7 months or so since Brian took charge of his last Reading game as manager and brought the curtain down on a truly miserable season. The club will be traveling north tomorrow with a little bit more hope than the last visit but will still need to be wary as their last two trips on the road have seen completely forgettable performances and no goals scored but seven conceded. While not a front…
RA Royals and Racers 17 Dec 2016 · 1:54pm

Unchanged from Tuesday and same bench as well
SU Sutekh 17 Dec 2016 · 2:07pm

Reading XI : Habsi, Blackett, McShane, Berg, Gunter, Moore L, Evans, Beerens, Samuel, McCleary, Kelly Subs : Moore S, Kermorgant, Cooper, Meite, Watson, Harriott, Wieser Blackburn XI : Steele, Wiiliams, Lowe, Brown, Akpan, Marshall, Graham, Emnes, Gallagher, Lenihan, Conway Subs : Raya, Feeney, Byrne, Stokes, Nyambe, Bennett, Wharton
SU Sutekh 17 Dec 2016 · 2:54pm

And we're off.
SU Sutekh 17 Dec 2016 · 3:00pm

5 mins in and Samuel makes a total hash of a good chance
SU Sutekh 17 Dec 2016 · 3:18pm

25 minutes and dead quiet to be honest. Seems Reading are playing the standard keep ball so trying to keep awake is a challenge. Getting the occasional attack in but suffering from the standard lack of any end product.
SU Sutekh 17 Dec 2016 · 3:24pm

Game coming to life as Reading appear to have decided to try and give them the ball as much as possible. Then a sudden breakaway and Samuel hits the net 1-0
SP sputnik 17 Dec 2016 · 3:26pm

GTFI

Read all the discussion →