What a win for the Royals in midweek, once again putting five past Mansfield Town in a game I actually thought we didn’t perform great in.
There were a few stand-out performances. I thought Paddy Lane was good, George Earthy was good, and before being taken off, Andy Rinomhota was my man of the match. Nothing was getting past him and it was really nice to see him at his best.
Blackpool recently suffered a 2-1 loss to Barnsley with Amani Richards getting a late winner for the home side. The Tangerines
do however currently sit in third place in the table with two wins, one draw and one loss. They are looking good, which is dangerous. Although early in the season, we can never underestimate or overestimate our opponents.
The game will take place on Saturday September 5 at 3pm. It will be hosted by the Select Car Leasing Stadium with the Royals favourites for the win. It will be David Rock who referees this one – he averages 4.6 yellow cards per match and 24.3 fouls per match.
In this preview I will speak about Reading vs Mansfield and how that can help to take down Blackpool, and I will give my predictions.
Reading vs Mansfield
In what ended up as a thrashing on the scoreline, the game itself suggested wasn’t the case. It wasn’t that Reading played well, it was that Mansfield were awful. They were sloppy on the ball and wasted the chances they did have.
Like I said in the last preview, the whole game was about the battle of the midfield, and Reading won it. Lewis Wing, Rinomhota and Earthy tore down the Mansfield midfield and won us the match.
A total of 20 shots – seven on target and four big chances missed – shows Reading were also a little wasteful in attack, but scoring five goals is pretty impressive. There were some good goals like Jack Marriott’s second, but Kyreece Lisbie’s miss was one to forget.
There are always improvements to point out. Paudie O’Connor was wasteful in defence, nearly caused a few goals. I would have him sit out this one. Conor Masterson is good enough to start so I would have him next to Benn Ward.
We can use the same midfield against Blackpool. They are a side we have beaten before and our improvements are looking good. Lisbie and Lane on the wing worked against Mansfield and the two of them could make the impact we need to defeat the Tangerines once more.
Mansfield will be looking to improve on this game, and they will face Bradford City – a good team that made the playoffs last year. I reckon it will be another loss for the Stags.
My predictions
Joel Pereira will be in goal.
He will be joined by a back four of Udoka Godwin-Malife, Masterson, Ward and Haydon Roberts.
In front of them will be Wing and Rinomhota.
Our attacking half begins with Lisbie, Earthy and Lane.
The attack will be rounded off by Marriott.
Score prediction: 3-2 Royals!
Good luck to those going to the game!
Come on you Royals!
