Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Forty Three: Reading v Barnsley

Team News

Beleaguered boss Simon Davey has no fitness worries with only long term casualties Iain Hume and Michael Coulson missing. There could be changes however with substitutes Hugo Colace and Martin Devaney impressing on Monday. Luke Steele may also get his first appearance since September after an error-strewn couple of weeks for Heinz Muller

Likely Line-Up:

Luke Steele

Rob Kozluk

Stephen Foster

Darren Moore

Bobby Hassell

Andranik Teymourian/ Hugo Colace

Anderson De Silva

Adam Hammill

Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Jon Macken

Daniel Bogdanovic

Head to Head

People looking for some inspiration tomorrow will like to know The Reds haven't lost on their last four trips to Reading, and they have won two of the last three league trips. They have only played once at the plush Madejski Stadium and have never visited in a league game. The last trip was a League Cup tie in September 1998. Ashley Ward scored for The Reds on 85 minutes but a Darren Caskey penalty in the 90^th minute earned a draw. It didn't matter as Barnsley had already won 3-0 at Oakwell courtesy of goals from Darren Barnard and a brace from Jan Aage Fjortoft.

The Oakwell meeting back in December 2008 was the first meeting since that cup tie, and a mistake from Dennis Souza allowed Brynjar Gunnarsson to win it for Reading. Ironically, The Reds played Swansea next and now they face Reading after playing Swansea.

Last Six Reading v Barnsley Results:

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)

31/3/97 Reading 1-2 Barnsley (Division One)

28/8/96 Barnsley 3-0 Reading (Division One)

13/4/96 Reading 0-1 Barnsley (Division One)

Overall Record:

Reading Wins: 22

Barnsley Wins: 23

Draws: 15

Reading Goals: 94

Barnsley Goals: 93

At Reading:

Reading Wins: 15

Barnsley Wins: 4

Draws: 10

Reading Goals: 54

Barnsley Goals: 27

This Season

For most teams, still being in with a shout of automatic promotion would be seen as a great success but Reading will be tinged with disappointment when, as looks likely they settle for the play-offs. That is because, for most of the season it looked like being a three way fight for the title between them, Birmingham and Wolves. But whilst the other two have continued to set the pace, the relegated Royals have dropped off the top two pace due to a run of one win in eight. Steve Coppell's side have not won for four games, although they have drawn three of them. They now sit fifth and Sheffield United and Cardiff have both leapfrogged them at the top.

Barnsley are now staring down the barrel of relegation after the 3-1 home defeat to the Swans on Easter Monday. They sit outside the relegation zone on goal difference and three of the remaining four games are away, with the only home game being against league leaders Wolves!

Last Six Results:

Reading:

13/4/09 Blackpool 2-2 Reading (Championship)

10/4/09 Reading 0-1 Sheffield United (Championship)

4/4/09 Coventry 0-0 Reading (Championship)

21/3/09 Crystal Palace 0-0 Reading (Championship)

17/3/09 Doncaster 0-1 Reading (Championship)

14/3/09 Reading 0-1 Ipswich (Championship)

W: 1 D: 3 L: 2 F: 3 A: 4 GD: -1 Points: 6

Barnsley:

13/4/09 Barnsley 1-3 Swansea (Championship)

11/4/09 Watford 1-1 Barnsley (Championship)