Reading To Face Stevenage In FA Cup Third Round

Reading have been drawn against Stevenage away from home in this season’s FA Cup third round.

The Hertfordshire outfit currently sit 15th in League Two, and have emphatically beaten Nantwich Town 5-0 and Swindon 5-2 in the FA Cup so far this campaign. Their best ever run in the competition came in 2011/12 when they reached round round five before losing to Tottenham.

That was of course the year that they caused an upset by knocking Reading out in the third round, winning 1-0 at the Madejski Stadium. It was only the second ever meeting between the two sides, with the first coming in the previous season when the Royals came out on top in the fourth round. Goals from Mikele Leigertwood and Shane Long secured a 2-1 win at the Lamex Stadium.

Last year, Reading were knocked out in the third round by Manchester United, suffering a 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford. We do have recent cup pedigree though, reaching the quarter-finals in 2010, 2011 and 2016 and the semi-finals in 2015, before agonisingly losing to Arsenal in extra-time.

The tie will take place on the weekend of January 6th, and we very much doubt it will be selected for TV, so expect a 3pm kick-off.