When : Saturday August 16, 3pm
Where : SCL Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
After 20 years away or so, acquaintance is about to be renewed with everyone’s favourite phoenix club. After being done over by their owner and then the FL, Wimbledon, and its supporters, had to start again and crawl back up out of the non league world just so they could have an excuse to revisit the SCL. Thankfully this game can go ahead after Dai’s attempt to launch a similar phoenix club in Reading was unsuccessful.
Reading need to start making some ground up in the league one table being currently 24th out of 24, due to the club’s impressive goal difference which is already the equal worst in the division. Three points though would see the team rise to lurking just outside the top 10 which I think would be essential before having to turn up at Bolton and Wycombe in the immediate weeks. It won’t be easy though as Reading are still looking to score an actual goal in the league this season.
Wimbledon have managed to collect three points already this season after beating Reading's first conquerors of this season Lincoln City 2-0. The Wombles' first game however was an unlucky 1-0 loss at the Kenilworth chicken coop. Consequently they are now sat in 10th place so Reading need a 3 goal win to climb above them in the table.
Eight players (7 permanent and 1 loan) joined last season's League 2 play off winners over the summer while five players departed. Danilo Orsi is possibly the highest profile of these additions, having joined from Burton last month. However the biggest threat is likely to be be posed by former Reading youth player Matty Stevens (he spent 9 years at the club between 2005 and 2014) who is the current leading scorer on the Wimbledon books.
Noel has a selection headache after the midweek league cup success against the sailor boys and while some would say don't change a winning team I would strongly imagine that the likes of Savage, Wing and Lane would return the the starting XI if fit. And injuries of course are the usual story, new signing Des is already out for the rest of the month, Yiadom has his dodgy knee again while Wing is actually thought to have had something in his eye. Lane didn't feature at Portsmouth at all which could just be an agreement when his signing was made (but you never know given Reading's luck). Dorsett should be through the concussion protocols though.
Referee
Jamie O’Connor
Previously
Nothing
Historically
Reading have never played Wimbledon under their current guise, however the club does have history against them from when they were the original article producing a fairly even record of 4 wins, 4 defeats and 4 draws across all competitions and venues.
The last time the two clubs played each other was Boxing Day 2003 when Reading presented a gutless display and Wimbledon won 3-0 at the Mad Stad. In fact Reading have never even scored a goal against Wimbledon at the Mad Stad as they also lost the only other encounter played there by 1-0 in September 2002.
In total Reading have won 3 of the 6 games played at home but are currently on a run of 2 home defeats in a row.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and go
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use a RoyalsTV subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
