When : Tuesday December 9, 2025, 8pm
Where : SCL Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
After a slight lay off to watch another round of the FA Cup unfold, Reading will get to play a home game against surprise division strugglers Peterborough United. The weekend’s events will see Reading players taking a rest while the Posh likely play a weakened team in their cup struggle with an equally likely weakened Barnsley at London Road.
Meanwhile this will be the first game between the clubs this season but the double header will complete in just 20 days when Reading make the trip to Cambridgeshire as part of the Christmas fixtures so let’s hope there’s no left overs to resolve from this match.
Peterborough have had a pretty dreadful season so far, most would have expected them to be floating somewhere in, around or amongst the top 10 but the loss of key players over the summer has made things tricky this time round and cost Darren Ferguson his job about the same time as Noel was relieved in RG2.
As mentioned, the Peterborough results so far have been somewhat influenced by the £4m gained in transfer fees through the selling of Malik Mothersille (Stockport) and Emmanuel Fernandez (Rangers) and the failure to replace the additional departures of Ricky Jade-Jones (St Pauli) and Kwame Poku (QPR) adequately.
Peterborough league form has been fairly decisive in terms of results though with 5 wins and 5 defeats in their last 10 games. They’ve won at Burton and destroyed Wimbledon 5-0 but have crashed at home to Blackpool and away at Doncaster last time out.
They are capable on their day though, as the destruction of Wimbledon and the cup defeat of Cardiff has shown, and the new manager, Luke Williams, is just getting acquainted with his squad’s pros and cons as much as Leam is still getting acquainted with his so the outcome of this game may well be like a step into the unknown with neither manager easily able to get a handle on what to expect from their opponent.
Leading the scoring charge for the “you’re Posh but you’re not Royal” is a fairly active forward line of Jimmy-Jay Morgan (3 goals), Gustav Lindgren (2) and Harry Leonard (3) in addition the midfield has been doing its fair share with 2 goals apiece for Matthew Garbett, Cian Hayes and Kyrell Lisbie.
And Kyrell is the closest thing to a Reading connection being the son of one time Reading loanee and subsequent transfer target Kevin Lisbie.
Reading’s squad is being undermined by an injury or two (least it was when we could talk about such things
). Jack Marriott might be able to make a contribution to the affair if recent rumours are to be believed though, so maybe Reading might find a supply of goals in them 
Referee
Craig “Martin” Hicks
Previously
09 Nov 24 > Stevenage 1-1 Reading
10 Feb 24 > Reading 2-0 Charlton Athletic
25 Nov 23 > Wycombe Wanderers 1-2 Reading
Historically
Reading have won 11 of the previous 19 league games played at home against Peterborough and have been beaten just twice (by 1-0 on both occasions) in that run so there is some positive form behind this one to live up.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel to the game
- SKY Red button or now app
- 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)
