Scunthorpe United v Reading (Capital One Cup, Round 2): Match Preview

Scunthorpe v Reading

League Cup

Tuesday 26th August 2014, KO 7:45PM

Glanford Park

Referee: Kevin Wright

You can open your eyes now; the nightmare is over, well at least for now. A disappointing result at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest on Saturday is quickly followed by a trip to Scunthorpe United of League one in the second round of the Capital One cup. Nigel Adkins returns to his former hunting ground in seek of a footballing remedy for his figurative Championship headache. The now Royals manager spent almost four years in charge of the Iron, overseeing 199 games between 2006 and 2010, guiding them from League One to the Championship, back down to League One the following year and then back up via the play-offs in 2009, keeping them up the following season before departing for Southampton in September 2010. This was a remarkable achievement considering he joined the club as a physio! Last season Scunthorpe broke the record set under Adkins for league games unbeaten when they surpassed 19 league games without a loss and remained unbeaten for a record 28-games and secured promotion to League One.

Reading
Form (all comps): DWWLL
Wigan v Reading: 2-2
Reading v Newport (league cup): 3-1
Reading v Ipswich: 1-0
Reading v Huddersfield: 1-2
Nottingham Forest v Reading: 4-0

After a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of league leaders Nottingham Forest at the weekend Reading will look to the cup for a lift against a team a league below them. A 3-1 success over Newport County at the Madejski Stadium sealed the Royals place in the pot for the second round however the performance was a little nervy at times with Newport dominating for large spells. A delightful 20^th minute Pavel Pogrebnyak chip was the difference between the two sides for much of the match before a late Nick Blackman strike looked to have sealed the win only for Newport to pull one back then concede a third soon after to condemn them to defeat. Reading are still a side struggling to integrate new additions and youngsters into the side and every game that goes by is a learning opportunity, but they need to learn fast. Cup runs can do wonders for confidence and belief and Nigel Adkins will be looking for a strong performance from whatever side he chooses to put out against his former club. Reading entered the Capital One cup in the Second round last season and bowed out straight away following a 6-0 massacre away to Peterborough United.

Scunthorpe
Form (all comps): LWLLD
Swindon v Scunthorpe: 3-1
Blackburn v Scunthorpe (league cup): 0-1
Scunthorpe v Preston North End: 0-4
Scunthorpe v Fleetwood Town: 0-2
Yeovil v Scunthorpe: 1-1

Scunthorpe come into this one after a difficult start to the season in League One which has seen them take just a point from their first four games. That point came away to championship-relegated Yeovil at the weekend when an 82^nd minute equaliser for the Iron made sure they moved off the bottom of the table. This result was preceded by an opening day defeat away to Swindon, a win in the League Cup away to Blackburn then two home defeats to Fleetwood Town and Preston North End . It’s been a hard start to life back in English footballs third tier following such a successful promotion season where confidence was sky-high and the team could not lose! They will be boosted however by the result that brings them here, a 1-0 win against Championship side Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.  A Neil Bishop goal sealed the win for the visitors and he is one of a number of players in the squad with Championship or Premier League experience including Miguel Llera, Gary McSheffrey, Andy Dawson and Paddy Madden.

Head to Head
There have been 26 meetings between these two sides down the years but this is the first meeting in a cup competition. In league matches Reading have dominated winning 13 to Scunthorpe’s 5 with 8 draws. Half of those draws have come in the last 6 meetings. These sides last met in the Championship back in April 2011 with Reading running out 2-0 winners at Glanford Park with goals from Shane Long and Ian Harte. The reverse fixture that season saw a reverse result with Scunthorpe winning 2-1 at the Madejski Stadium in August 2010 with goals from Garry Thompson and Rob Jones either side of a Gylfi Sigurdsson strike.

Team News
Reading: Nigel Adkins may choose to name a side not too dissimilar to the one at Forest as he tries to give this new side game-time together. Aaron Khul continues to make an impression after a good display in a poor match for the Royals on Saturday and Adkins may select him again in the middle of the pitch probably alongside Hope Akpan. Reading are assessing a knee injury picked up by Jordan Obita on Saturday while Pogrebnyak looks like he won’t be fit for Tuesday’s game after missing Saturday’s match with a calf problem picked up against Huddersfield. Newest recruit Oliver Norwood is cup tied and the Royals have seven other players out injured however Jamie Mackie is available after missing the game against his parent club.
Scunthorpe: Scunthorpe are having to cope with their own injury crisis which has seen manager Russ Wilcox sign three players including goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik on-loan from Peterborough who replaced Sam Slocombe who picked up an injury in the first round win over Blackburn. Deon Burton could return for the Iron after sitting out Saturday’s draw at Yeovil with a knock to his knee while one-time Reading player Marcus Williams could line up against his former side after playing against the Glovers.