Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty Six: Reading v Barnsley

Team News

Barnsley are without fullbacks Bobby Hassell and Rob Kozluk due to knee injuries but striker Daniel Bogdanovic should return after missing the Leicester win with his own knee problem. Darren Moore is set to come in for Kozluk who limped off after just 17 minutes on Tuesday night and Ryan Shotton will move across to right back. Reading meanwhile should include former Reds captain Brian Howard in their squad.

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Darren Moore

Stephen Foster

Ryan Shotton

Adam Hammill

Hugo Colace

Nathan Doyle

Anderson De Silva

Jon Macken/ Daniel Bogdanovic

Iain Hume

Head To Head

Barnsley head to the Madejski Stadium looking to continue an impressive recent record at Reading. Despite winning only five of 31 trips to Elm Park and the Madejski, they are unbeaten in Berkshire in their last six trips, stretching back to 1988.

Indeed The Reds have already won at the Madejski this season in the second round of the Carling Cup. Daniel Bogdanovic put The Reds in front after 56 minutes but then an exciting end to the game saw two goals. An calamitous own goal by Rob Kozluk on 90minutes equalised for the Royals but then deep into injury time, Kayode Odejayi won a penalty for The Reds which Bogdanovic converted. Reading though would get their revenge just four days later when they came to Oakwell and won 3-1 in the league. That proved to be Simon Davey’s final game as Barnsley manager as the Welshman left by mutual consent that evening.

Barnsley also secured a valuable point from the Madejski in their quest to avoid relegation last April, drawing 0-0. This was the first of four unbeaten matches to end the season that secured survival.

The Reds last league win at Reading came at Elm Park in their famous promotion season of 1996-1997. The Reds won 2-1 in March 1997 thanks to a Paul Holsgrove own goal and a strike from Andy Liddell. It proved to be one of only three home games that Reading lost that season.

Barnsley 1-3 Reading Match Report 29/8/09

Barnsley 0-1 Reading Match Report 6/12/08

Last six Reading v Barnsley results:

29/8/09 Barnsley 1-3 Reading (Championship)

25/8/09 Reading 1-2 Barnsley (League Cup)

18/4/09 Reading 0-0 Barnsley (Championship)

6/12/08 Barnsley 0-1 Reading (Championship)

23/9/98 Reading 1-1 Barnsley (League Cup)

15/9/98 Barnsley 3-0 Reading (League Cup)

Overall Record:

Reading Wins: 23

Barnsley Wins: 24

Draws: 16

Reading Goals: 98

Barnsley Goals: 96

At Reading (29 at Elm Park, 2 at the Madejski Stadium):

Reading Wins: 15

Barnsley Wins: 5

Draws: 11

Reading Goals: 55

Barnsley Goals: 29

This Season

Reading, in their second season after relegation from the Premier League are in serious danger of falling into League One. With 20 games remaining they sit second from bottom of the Championship, four points off safety with the joint worst goal-difference in the division. It is all a far cry from when Steve Coppell led the Royals to an eighth place Premier League finish in 2007. They were relegated the following season, but looked to be making an immediate return when they sat second in the league at Christmas 2008. The second half of the season saw them collapse and they lost to Burnley in the Play-Off Semi Finals. A major cause of their slump was an alarming home record. Reading won just twice at the Madejski after Christmas and that poor home form has continued into 2009-2010. It took them until the 21^st November to win at home this season- 2-1 against Blackpool and that is their only home success so far. Only Stockport and Grimsby have also only won once at home this season. The fact they have only won four times on the road- one of those at Barnsley only exaggerates the problem.

This week chairman John Madejski awarded Brian McDermott the job on a full-time basis despite his record as care-taker reading two draws and three losses. This though has been punctured by a famous FA Cup replay win at Liverpool and another FA Cup victory at home to Burnley in the following round. The league is their most pressing concern however and they have picked up just five points from a possible 21, since beating Sheffield Wednesday back on the 5^th December when Brendan Rogers was still in charge- that is their only league victory in nine matches, and they were defeated 3-0 at Sheffield United on Tuesday.

Barnsley finally secured their first win of 2010 when they defeated Leicester City 1-0 on Tuesday night but they haven’t won on the road since they ended Blackpool’s undefeated home record in early December. They do have the added bonus of already winning at the Madejski this season however and have won four matches on the road- their best away total at this stage of a season at this level since 1999-2000 when they made the play-off final. Today the Reds go looking for back-back wins, something they have achieved twice this season- the last time being when they defeated Cardiff 1-0 and then won at Blackpool (although the 4-1 washout at Plymouth occurred in-between those two games)

Overall playing record for 30th January:

Reading have a good playing record on the 30^th January, having won seven and lost just four of their 14 games on this date. The Royals have though won just one of their last five matches played on this day and their most recent match was in 2008 when they lost 1-0 at Chelsea in the Premier League.

Reading: Played 14, Won 7, Drawn 3, Lost 4, Scored 28, Conceded 21.

Barnsley have only a slightly worse record than Reading, having won six and lost five of the 14 they have played on the 30^th January. Their first ever game on this date came in 1897 when they were thrashed 8-1 at Derby in the FA Cup. They won their most recent game on this date- in 2007 when they secured a valuable 2-0 win over fellow relegation rivals QPR at Oakwell. Marc Richards on the stroke of half-time and then a stunning chip from Brian Howard in the 90^th minute sealed the points and meant Barnsley in third bottom, leapfrogged QPR who were fourth bottom. Both teams would survive come May.

QPR Match Report

Barnsley: Played 14, Won 6, Drawn 3, Lost 5, Scored 16, Conceded 20.

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Reading

26/1/10 Sheffield United 3-0 Reading (Championship)

23/1/10 Reading 1-0 Burnley (FA Cup)

16/1/10 Nottingham Forest 2-1 Reading (Championship)

13/1/10 Liverpool 1-2 Reading (FA Cup)

2/1/10 Reading 1-1 Liverpool (FA Cup)

28/12/09 Plymouth 4-1 Reading (Championship)

W: 2 D: 1 L: 3 F: 6 A: 11 GD:-5 Points: 1

Barnsley: