Reading FC Match Preview - April 30 - Coventry City (A)
Where are Coventry City in the Championship? 17th
Recent form? So-s0, the Sky Blues have won three out of their last six to remove any lingering fears of relegation and their recent performances have been enough to convince the board to give caretaker boss Andy Thorn the job on a permanent basis yesterday.
Last time we played them? A dour 0-0 draw at the Madejski Stadium back in December, with Shane Long hitting the post for the Royals and Marlon King hitting the upright for the visitors.
Any former Royals? Nope, not today, though Jay Tabb will be visiting his former club.
Tips for travelling Royals? Check out the ground guide here or there's some advice from our Coventry fan in View from the Town End here.
Tilehurst End Thoughts In Brief
Tomorrow's game may not have that much riding on it in terms of our promotion chances but after Monday's disappointing display it could be key in setting us up for a play-off campaign. While the bookies have us as already being in the play-offs technically we still need one point to be mathematically sure of our place in the season ending promotion lottery and it would be nice to wrap that up tomorrow.
Our opponents Coventry have nothing to play for but pride and the chance to impress Andy Thorn who has just been confirmed as the clubs permanent manager, having been caretaker since they sacked Aidy Boothroyd in March. The Sky Blues have been out of danger for a few weeks now but have beaten Millwall, Portsmouth and Watford in recent weeks so they'll be no pushovers, despite 9 league defeats at the Ricoh this season.
Historically Reading have the edge in the head to head statistics, winning 19 of the 45 league meetings, with Coventry winning 14. Last year we won 3-1 at the Ricoh in a rare win for Brendan Rodgers, while we also won at Highfield Road in 2004 with goals from Shaun Goater and John Salako.
Team wise it's anyone's guess given our lacklustre performances against Leeds and Sheffield United. If I had to guess I'd imagine that Brian McDermott will keep faith with the XI that started against the Blades, with the only change seeing Kebe in for Robson-Kanu. It would be easy to make knee-jerk changes but this is the same core that won eight in a row and it would be foolish to change that now. In saying that, if they fail to perform at the Ricoh, then selection for Derby could be VERY interesting.
Prediction wise, I'm saying an open game and a 2-2 finish.
Match Previews:
Reading OS (interview with Brian McDermott)