It was an improvement at the weekend, but you can’t help but feel like it’s more dropped points, Reading bottling a 2-1 lead late on against another struggling team in Wycombe Wanderers. Going into the match I think some may have taken a draw based on previous performances, but during and after the game you can only be disappointed. But now it is on to the cup, facing a familiar opponent in Wimbledon.
Wimbledon have already beaten the Royals this season, are coming off the back of a 2-0 win against
Barnsley and are looking to establish themselves as a mainstay in League One. The Dons are looking lively and are going to be a difficult side to beat, even in the cup.
In this preview I will have a look at Wimbledon’s first cup game against Gillingham, examine Reading’s match against Portsmouth, analyse how the Royals can defeat the Dons for the first time this season, pick out players who have played for both and, of course, I will give my predictions.
What? Carabao Cup round two
Season? 2025/26
Who? AFC Wimbledon
Where? Select Car Leasing Stadium
When? Tuesday August 26
Time? 19:00
Opposition manager? Johnnie Jackson
Wimbledon vs Gillingham
Wimbledon found themselves in a harder first-round game than expected against League Two Gillingham, with the tie ending in a penalty shootout.
Naturally, the man of the match was the goalkeeper, but special shoutouts go to both goalscorers in Antwoine Hackford and Ethan Coleman.
It was a very even game: 51-49 on possession, 11-10 shots and 4-2 on target, all in favour of Gillingham. The League Two side definitely put up a good fight and were unlucky to walk away with the loss in the end when you look at other results that happened that day. But it’s Wimbledon that we’re focussing on.
The last time I spoke about Wimbledon (before our league meeting) it was Nathan Asiimwe who stole the show, but in this cup fixture against the Gills it was goalkeeper Joe McDonnell that did so. With two penalty saves he was the star man and kept his side from a shock defeat.
I reckon they’ll use a similar lineup to the league meeting, due to Reading being League One opposition. This means that whoever plays at left-back needs to lock up Asiimwe. He will be ready for a similar game to how it was in the league and Reading can’t give him that. I assume it will be John Ryan and I think he will do a good job of not letting Asiimwe get into the game.
I am also intrigued to see if Danilo Orsi features in this one. He managed an assist in the last cup game but only managed 10 minutes against Reading and failed to feature against Barnsley. He’s a decent League One striker who could make a big impact on the outcome of the match. If he does, I think Derrick Williams will have a handful to deal with, but with his strong performances in his last two games, I’m confident Williams will be okay.
Reading vs Portsmouth
On Reading’s side of things, this first-round fixture has been the only win of the season so far. I expect a similar line-up to this one will feature against Wimbledon as they all played very well and were the dominant team against the Championship side.
Reading’s standouts in my opinion were Ashqar Ahmed and Tivonge Rushesha, who performed very well multiple times last season as well. Ahmed rightfully then made it into the starting 11 the following weekend against Wimbledon but failed to make the same impact.
While not having the possession, Reading had the same number of shots as Portsmouth with double on target (6-3), and capitalising on a poor home-side display. Being 2-0 up and not having any worries was a nice feeling as a fan and beating a Championship side gave hope for the next few games.
I expect both Ahmed and Rushesha will feature in this match alongside Shay Spencer and Andre Garcia. Spencer managed 35 touches and one shot and played very well in the midfield. Garcia managed to get his first goal of the season playing off the left wing and looked very comfortable playing in front of Ryan. I’m hoping for another goal involvement from him in this one.
Players who have played for both
In total there have been nine players who have played for Reading and AFC Wimbledon. Here are three of them.
Chris Gunter played 310 games for Reading, scoring three and assisting 15. He goes down as one of Reading’s best-ever right-backs and is one who is still beloved by the club.
He moved to Wimbledon in 2022 and played 33 games, managing one assist.
Alex Pearce is another who played a lot of games for Reading. Making 221 appearances, the defender managed 14 goals and seven assists after graduating from the Reading academy.
Also signing for Wimbledon in 2022, Pearce played 35 games, contributing one assist.
Finally, Nesta Guiness-Walker, who was at Wimbledon for two years, playing 91 games for the club. He managed three goals and four assists.
Playing 41 games for Reading, he came up with one assist and, in my opinion, should have been someone we made more effort to keep.
My lineup
In goal will be Jack Stevens. He had a very solid game against Portsmouth and I expect him to have another busy one in this one.
The back line will consist of Ahmed, Williams, Michael Stickland and Ryan. I expect Stickland to be captain.
The midfield will be led by Ben Elliott and he will be joined by Spencer and Rushesha.
The front three will be Paddy Lane, Mark O’Mahony and Garcia.
Score prediction: 2-0 Royals!
Good luck to those going to the game.
Here’s hoping we can get a win tonight and then draw a big Premier League side in the next round.
Come on you Royals!
