Swift On The Bench For Must Win Match

By Hob Nob Anyone?

John Swift will be on the bench as he makes his latest return from injury as Reading take on Cardiff City at the Madejski Stadium this evening. The match is live on Sky Sports and kick-off is at 6pm. The Royals must win the match to keep in touch with the top six as they currently find themselves in seventh place - five points behind both Bournemouth and Barnsley with just five games left to play.

With Reading still to play Swansea and Norwich before the end of the season, nothing but a win will do tonight and it is likely that even that won't be enough after Reading's poor form has seen them drop out of the top six.

Omar Richard is fully fit and will be back in the starting eleven in place of Lewis Gibson, and Lucas Joao will make a start after being dropped to the bench for Reading's last two fixtures. Joao was on the scoresheet earlier this season as the Royals won 2-1 at Cardiff - back when we were top of the Championship. Puscas failed to take Reading's best chance against Watford and will find himself back on the bench for Cardiff's visit.

Reading Team: Rafael, Yiadom, Holmes, Moore, Richards, Laurent, Rinomhota, Ejaria, Olise, Joao, Meite. Subs: Southwood, Gibson, Esteves, Tetek, Semedo, Aluko, Puscas, Baldock, Swift.

Reading are unbeaten in their last ten games against Cardiff.

Recent Matches with Cardiff:

DATE	OPPOSITION	COMPETITION	SCORE	REPORT	ATT	POS	SCORERS
26 September 2020	Cardiff (Away)	Championship	W: 2-1	Report...	0	1	M Morrison, L Joao
04 February 2020	Cardiff (Away)	FA Cup	D: 3-3	Report...	4832	-	O Richards, A Rinomhota, Y Meite
31 January 2020	Cardiff (Away)	Championship	D: 1-1	Report...	22518	15	Y Meite
25 January 2020	Cardiff (HOME)	FA Cup	D: 1-1	Report...	12798	-	Y Meite
18 August 2019	Cardiff (HOME)	Championship	W: 3-0	Report...	14252	17	G Puscas, G Puscas, J Swift
06 May 2018	Cardiff (Away)	Championship	D: 0-0	Report...	32478	20
11 December 2017	Cardiff (HOME)	Championship	D: 2-2	Report...	16670	14	C Paterson, M Barrow
28 January 2017	Cardiff (HOME)	Championship	W: 2-1	Report...	18558	3	J Swift, Y Kermorgant
27 August 2016	Cardiff (Away)	Championship	W: 1-0	Report...	15013	15	Y Kermorgant
19 March 2016	Cardiff (HOME)	Championship	D: 1-1	Report...	17407	17	G McCleary
07 November 2015	Cardiff (Away)	Championship	L: 0-2	Report...	15414	8
04 April 2015	Cardiff (HOME)	Championship	D: 1-1	Report...	17953	19	P Pogrebnyak
24 January 2015	Cardiff (Away)	FA Cup	W: 2-1	Report...	11750	-	O Norwood, H Robson-Kanu
21 November 2014	Cardiff (Away)	Championship	L: 1-2	Report...	20643	15	M Hector

From the Discussion

SU Sutekh 13 Apr 2021 · 3:44pm

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Reading_FC.svg/200px-Reading_FC.svg.png http://b.smimg.net/11/41/300x225_cardiffcity.jpg 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…
LU LUX 13 Apr 2021 · 4:11pm

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.
MS Mid Sussex Royal 13 Apr 2021 · 7:05pm

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…
ZI Zip 13 Apr 2021 · 7:28pm

Anything other than a win and the season is done.
CR Crowbar6753 13 Apr 2021 · 10:25pm

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 :D :D :D
SR Snowflake Royal 14 Apr 2021 · 8:37am

The season is done when maths says so. Don't know why you're all so frantic, we wouldn't win the POs anyway.
HO Hound 14 Apr 2021 · 7:55pm

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
TM tidus_mi2 15 Apr 2021 · 9:30am

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.

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