Football is back! After a shorter stint this year with the World Cup being a great watch, Reading are back in action in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
The Royals have had a great pre-season, which I will go into more detail about later on, and are looking to be a team that could genuinely push for the playoffs under a doubted Leam Richardson.
Bromley are the talk of the town after last season, getting an unpredicted promotion, and a lot of people are unsure on what to expect from them against
League One teams. The signings they have made are of a side that will be fighting to stay in the division, and this clash will be their first real test to see how they perform.
Reading themselves have made some signings, which I will talk about in this preview, alongside previous first-round matches for both teams, and lastly, my predicted lineup and score!
I am currently writing this in France so good luck to those going to the match – I will be watching at the pub, cheering on the Royals like I do every game.
I’ve been doing these previews for two years now; let’s change it up a little bit.
This game will take place at the Copperjax Community Stadium, a ground that has a capacity of 6,100. It will be live on Sky Sports +, kicking off at 3pm on Saturday August 8. We are finally into the 2026/27 season, and it will be referee Craig Hicks that takes the teams into the brand new season.
Signings for the Royals!
The Royals have made four signings this summer so far: a striker, a winger, an attacking midfielder and a defender. Here they are:
Jacob Brown was brought in from Luton Town, but he was on loan at Portsmouth last season. He managed 15 games for Pompey, scoring one goal, and for the Hatters he played 55 times, netting six goals.
He is a player that gets fouled often and likes to try and cut inside to create space. Although he hasn’t scored many goals in his career, I think as a replacement for Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan – who has sadly left the club – he will do well.
The most promising signing is Kyreece Lisbie, a very attacking winger whose finishing is impeccable. He is a good dribbler on the ball and, from pre-season, it seems like he is very good at tracking back to help the full-back in defence.
He is another that gets fouled often and that is great for us as we have Lewis Wing on free-kicks.
Josh Stokes also looks very promising. On loan from Bristol City, the attacking midfielder did very well for Stockport County last season.
His strengths include through balls, long shots and good defensive contributions. I think he is a slightly better Charlie Savage. He is also a very good crosser of the ball, which will benefit us a lot with the heading prowess we have in the squad.
Finally, Udoka Godwin-Malife has come to us from Burton Albion. For a second year in a row we have signed a defender who was captain of their previous club. At the age of 26, he has great dribbling and his concentration is second to none.
Apparently the Royals are linked to a few more people and it will be very exciting to see who else will come in before the window closes.
Previous League Cup ties
I hadn’t done any research on Bromley before I started writing this, but it turns out they don’t have much history in this competition.
It was only last season they made it past the first round of the cup, beating Ipswich Town 5-4 on penalties after the game finished 1-1 at full-time. They would then go on to lose to Wycombe Wanderers in round two, but this was still record-breaking for The Ravens.
Last season the Royals beat Portsmouth in the first round of the League Cup, with Andre Garcia and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan scoring in the first half to make sure Tayo Singerr’s goal meant nothing. It was Ashqar Ahmed who got man of the match in that one, with what I thought was his best game of the season.
Reading then went on to beat AFC Wimbledon in round two, with goals from Liam Fraser and Mamadi Camara cancelling out Omar Bugiel’s equaliser.
The Royals then lost to Wrexham, with Nathan Broadhead getting both goals in a 2-0 win for the home side.
My predictions
In goal will be Jack Stevens. He is our cup goalkeeper and I think it will stay that way.
The defence in a 4-2-3-1 formation will be Kelvin Abrefa, Udoka Godwin-Malife, Paudie O’Connor and Jeriel Dorsett.
The two holding midfielders will be Lewis Wing and Tyler Sackey.
The second three will be Kyreece Lisbie, Daniel Kyerewaa and Paddy Lane.
Up front will be Jack Marriott.
Score prediction: 3-1 Reading!
Good luck to those going to the game and best of luck to everyone for the season!
Come on you Royals!
