\n City\u2019s defence has been rock-solid this season, with five clean sheets from seven league games, but first-choice keeper Jon McCracken is away with Scotland and regular wing-backs Josh Neufville (hamstring) and Ibou Touray (international) are both missing.\n<\/p>\n
\n Add in the fact that the Bantams have just lost Graham Alexander to Preston, and Reading might feel this is the perfect time to get at their visitors.\n<\/p>\n
\n And getting at the opposition is something they have been doing a good job of, as League One\u2019s second most prolific side, with 16 goals in just seven games so far.\n<\/p>\n
\n Former Derby forward Jack Marriott is absolutely flying and is comfortably the division\u2019s top scorer, having netted eight times so far, with a goal every 65 minutes on average.\n<\/p>\n
\n He is the obvious dangerman tomorrow, though he may be subject to a late fitness test after coming off last time out against Wycombe.\n<\/p>\n
\n Someone who definitely won’t feature is another attacking talent, George Earthy, who is set for a few weeks out with a foot injury.\n<\/p>\n
\n On a brighter note for Reading, Kyreece Lisbie’s four assists have him joint-top of the League One charts with Ewan Henderson (Wycombe) and Lewis Bate (Stockport).\n<\/p>\n
\n Midfielder Andy Rinomhota is back from international duty, while the defence has shored up nicely since conceding four on the opening day of the season to Luton.\n<\/p>\n
\n That backline is marshalled by a familiar face too, centre back Paudie O\u2019Connor spending three-and-a-half years with City.\n<\/p>\n
\n Paudie O’Connor challenging Tyreik Wright for the ball while playing for Reading at Valley Parade last season. (Image: Thomas Gadd)\n<\/p>\n
\n Leam Richardson has been in charge since last year, having forged his reputation as a manager by turning Wigan around and getting them promoted in 2022.\n<\/p>\n
\n He has rebuilt nicely after a difficult spell at Rotherham, to the point where he has been one of the names linked with the vacant managerial role at the Bantams.\n<\/p>\n
\n That might add some spice to tomorrow\u2019s game, which could end up being an audition of sorts.\n<\/p>\n
\n Whether that is the case or not, Richardson would not be thinking that way of course.\n<\/p>\n
\n He will instead be hoping to repeat the heist Reading pulled off in February, when last-gasp goals from Paddy Lane and Matt Ritchie saw them complete a remarkable 2-1 comeback win over City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City\u2019s defence has been rock-solid this season, with five clean sheets from seven league games, but first-choice keeper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-298045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}