Rampant Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Derby County vs Reading Tuesday 12th March Pride Park KO 1945 Opposition Bio: Reading have made more headlines off the field than on it in recent times as they find themselves in financial strife as a result of incompetency by their owner. Sound familiar? The EFL have seemingly cut them more slack than they did with ourselves but their patience must be wearing thin as deadlines to deposit sufficient funds regularly pass. The latest failure to pony up saw them docked further points and their season deduction now stands at six points in total. There was a further deduction of three points doled out, albeit suspended, after their understandably fed up supporters invaded the pitch and caused the early abandonment of their home match with Port Vale, the latters best result in recent months. Where we had Mel Morris, Reading have Dai Yongge. This proves the old adage of being wary of baldies or fake Welshmen baring gifts. Any sympathy we have for them should be tempered though by the thought that they are probably still laughing at us paying £3m for Nick Blackman. Reading FC are known as the Royals, a distinctly naff nickname acquired after a young Prince Albert played a dozen games for the club before marrying Queen Victoria. Plus they hail from the royal county of Berkshire. They are also known as the Biscuitmen due to the town's association with the biscuit makers Huntley & Palmers. They are managed by Spaniard Ruben Selles and, having been relegated last season, will be looking to secure League 1 survival this season and kick on in 2024/25 under different ownership and without points deductions. Reading are the proud holders of two notable records. In the 1985/86 season they recorded 13 straight victories at the start of the season in what is now this division and they also hold the record for the highest points total for their whopping 106 points in their 2005/06 Championship campaign. Opposition Form: Not too shabby in fairness. In the ten matches played since they beat us 1-0 at their place they have won a further four games with three draws and three defeats. They arrive at Pride Park on the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe and in 18th place with a record of W12-D9-L16. It should be noted, however, that without their points deduction they would be in 14th position. Their away record is perhaps misleading as the bare stats of W3-D5-L10 needs to be looked at in the knowledge that they contrived to lose their first eight matches on the road. They all count obviously but their more recent form away since then reads W3-D5-L2. Their away wins have been at Wycombe (2-1), Stevenage (1-0) and Carlisle (3-1). They have also managed decent draws at Oxford and Peterborough. In those 18 away games they have only failed to score on four occasions. Promisingly from a Rams perspective, they have only kept the one clean sheet on their travels. Opposition Players: Going purely off the stats it would appear their chief dangermen are top marksman Harvey Knibbs (10 goals, 6 assists), Sam Smith (9 goals, 10 assists) and possibly Femi Azeez and Lewis Wing. They also have Robbie's son Charlie Savage, the experienced Harlee Dean and the wonderfully named youngster Jacob Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis who I hope gets a runout as I'd love to see if they put his triple-barrelled name on his shirt. Rams vs Reading History: This will be the 48th league clash between Derby and Reading and the 54th in all competitions. The clubs' first meeting was a League Cup clash in October 1965 (1-1) but it wasn't until 22nd September 1984 that the Rams and the Royals met in a league fixture for the first time and the long wait proved barely worthwhile as we played out a goalless draw at their previous home, Elm Park. The return fixture would prove to be more memorable, for us at least, as Reading's first ever league visit to Derby in April 1985 saw the Rams win 4-1 with goals from Bobby Davison, Steve Buckley, Trevor Christie and Gary Micklewhite in front of a bumper crowd of 7,945 (really?). That was not a taste of things to come in this fixture though as Reading have had by far the better of it. Our record on their turf is especially poor with just four wins in 24 visits. On Derby soil, though better as you'd expect, it is still deeply unimpressive. Our last victory at home to them was a 1-0 success in September 2021 but our overall home league record against Reading is W10-D3-L10. Expected Team: Same again one might think. Possibly a change in the middle to give more legs with Smith or Thompson in for Hourihane. Other Fixtures of Note: Something similar to Saturday would be nice. A Derby win and at least one of our rivals for automatic dropping points please. Their games midweek are: Portsmouth vs Burton Bolton vs Oxford Carlisle vs Barnsley Peterborough vs Stevenage (Weds) COYR Ram@Lincoln, Kinder, IslandExile and 42 others 28 1 11 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boycie Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I hate these match starters who just go through the motions. Well done @Rampant EtoileSportiveDeDerby, 1967Ram, jono and 10 others 2 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve How Hard? Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 It will be interesting to see how PW approaches this one. Does he keep the same line-up and try and build some momentum? With a massive game on Saturday against Bolton does he rest a few to keep them fresh for that one? Difficult choice and I'm not sure what the correct answer is. I'd probably urge against making too many changes. We still need to do the business in this one. jono 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 (edited) Two home games ago we lost to Charlton, I would be amazed if there is any consideration of resting players for the Reading game Edited March 10 by AndyB Steve How Hard? and jimtastic56 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveram Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Ticket sales for this one are very slow with the big game on Saturday, fans are sitting this one out. Still 4,393 tickets left. Derby4Me and jimtastic56 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van der MoodHoover Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Been a slow burner this season but it sounds as though things might be coming together and we are building performances AND results. Would think momentum is all important now. Only 9 games left so the chance of gassing out the entire squad much reduced. hintonsboots and Crewton 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eoghan1884 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 If we win these next two games there is actually a strong potential to win the league I believe. Portsmouth haven’t looked at their best the last few games and they play all other 4 members of the top 5 over there next 7 games. SKRam, Norwichram2, admira and 5 others 5 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S8TY Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 This game is very important , lose it and it puts a lot more pressure onto Saturdays game , win it and go for it keeping momentum and carry that into Saturday and then if we beat Bolton a potential cushion is created with then only 7 games to go was great to hear Barks saying that we went for it against Rovers and I think that mentality is exactly how we should be going into every game now until the seasons end .....then second or even first place is a real possibility Carl Sagan, Tamworthram, SKRam and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crewton Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Brace yourselves - referee for this is Charles Breakspear who reffed our game at Plymouth last year. So we can probably expect him to send off one of our players for diving in the penalty area 🫣 S8TY and SKRam 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamworthram Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 9 hours ago, Steve How Hard? said: It will be interesting to see how PW approaches this one. Does he keep the same line-up and try and build some momentum? With a massive game on Saturday against Bolton does he rest a few to keep them fresh for that one? Difficult choice and I'm not sure what the correct answer is. I'd probably urge against making too many changes. We still need to do the business in this one. Surely there is no chance of resting “a few” players especially with Bird already being out. We need to keep up the winning momentum and, I know PW gets flak from some on this forum for publicly showing respect to the opposition, we can’t take this game for granted. jono and AndyinLiverpool 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van der MoodHoover Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 We seem to have had more than our fair share of horror shows against this mob down the years Time to run over them. No mercy shown. 4-0.... jono and SKRam 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Is Adams one booking away from a suspension? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddielewis Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Mr. P said: Is Adams one booking away from a suspension? 5 yellows before match 19 one match ban 10 yellows before match 37 two match ban 15 yellows over 46 games 3 match ban Ebou is on 5 (4 with us 1 with Cardiff) Edited March 11 by eddielewis Carl Sagan and Mr. P 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadAmster Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 5 minutes ago, eddielewis said: 5 yellows before match 15 one match ban 10 yellows before match 32 two match ban 15 yellows over 46 games 3 match ban Ebou is on 5 (4 with us 1 with Cardiff) 5 yellows match 19 I thought. 10 yellows match 37. I believe Ebou is safe despite 4 yellows in 8 appearances. jono and Mr. P 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadAmster Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Rams v Reading head to head. Won 16, drawn 10, Lost 27. Time to improve that record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Ram Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 1 hour ago, Tamworthram said: Surely there is no chance of resting “a few” players especially with Bird already being out. We need to keep up the winning momentum and, I know PW gets flak from some on this forum for publicly showing respect to the opposition, we can’t take this game for granted. Can Connor and Gayle manage 3 games in a week? I would be inclined to play Smith and Waggers, then bring Gayle on in the second half to save him a bit for Saturday when he will start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loughborough Ram Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 2 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said: Can Connor and Gayle manage 3 games in a week? I would be inclined to play Smith and Waggers, then bring Gayle on in the second half to save him a bit for Saturday when he will start. Dwight Gayle should be as fresh as a daisy. If he is your first choice number 9, he should play. With so few games left, every result matters, so you play your best team unless injury or suspension says otherwise Carl Sagan and DiggerB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorsforthRam Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I think this game may be tougher than the Bolton one admira 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srg Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 1 minute ago, HorsforthRam said: I think this game may be tougher than the Bolton one It is from a "getting up for it" perspective. Team talk isn't needed on Saturday, they all know how big the game is. Keeping eyes on Tuesday first and fully focused on it is important. Reading are the type of team we have struggled against, and it wasn't a shock when we lost at their place. They are an athletic team which can expose some of our slow tendencies. Let's hope the formation/personnel we are using at the moment will fair better. HorsforthRam and jono 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I’d like to see an unchanged team. I have a sense they have finally gelled. Why though ? Is it because we have Gayle’s threat / skill or is it because Adams has given us real bite or because Wardy is showing his pre injury effectiveness along with Sibs growing in to his new role. All good stuff and part of a developing team, so probably all of the above 🤣 SKRam, Elwood P Dowd, angieram and 4 others 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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