The lowdown on the Latics
The Royals are on the road again this Saturday when they make the long trip North to take on Wigan Athletic at The Brick Community Stadium.
The Latics go into the game off the back of a 2-1 victory against Huddersfield Town last time out, a first win in five Sky Bet League One fixtures
Ahead of the game we've taken a closer look at our hosts, and you can check out the full info below.
FORM
The Latics sit in 14th place in the Sky Bet League One table, with a return of 39 points from their 32 games to date. Their form at The Brick Community Stadium is slightly inferior to that on the road, with 19 points accrued at home compared to 20 on their travels.
Wigan are enjoying a run of three matches unbeaten, after securing draws away at Crawley Town and Wycombe Wanderers before Tuesday evening's impressive victory against Play-Off chasing Huddersfield Town.
Earlier in the campaign Shaun Maloney's side fell to a 2-0 loss to the Royals in our first home game of the campaign. Goals from Charlie Savage and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan sealed the points that day in front of the Select Car Leasing Stadium faithful and got the campaign up and running.
ONE TO WATCH - DALE TAYLOR
Northern Ireland international Taylor has seven goals to his name in 31 appearances for the Latics since signing on loan from Nottingham Forest last summer.
The forward signed for the Trees' youth setup in 2020, and has enjoyed loan spells at Burton Albion and Wycombe Wanderers before signing for Saturday's hosts.
Taylor has two goals in his past three games, including the opener in his side's victory over Huddersfield Town on Tuesday evening at The Brick Community Stadium.
On the international stage, he has represented Northern Ireland at Under 16 to Under 21 level, before making eight appearances to date for the full side.
THE GAFFER - SHAUN MALONEY
A former player and FA Cup winner with the Latics, Maloney took the Managers hotseat at The Brick Community Stadium in January 2023.
On the pitch, the Scotland international had a glittering career, with notable spells at Celtic on two occasions and Aston Villa. He would also pick up an impressive 47 international caps for the Tartan Army, scoring seven goals across an 11 year period.
His first appointment as a Manager came North of the border at Hibernian, where he was in charge for five months and took the Edinburgh outfit to the Semi Final of the Scottish Cup.
In charge of the Latics he has a 36.8% win rate, with 42 successes from 114 matches to date.
FROM THE VAULT
Voted in 2017 as the second best game at the Select Car Leasing (then Madejski) Stadium, the Royals and Latcis played out a Play-Off Semi Final with the most dramatic of finales in 2001.
A goalless first leg in the North West setup the reverse fixture nicely, but the game didn't start well for the Royals when Kevin Nicholls fired the visitors into the lead in the 26th minute.
Alan Pardew's side were perhaps guilty of spurning chances to get back into the game, and with time running out it looked like a trip to Cardiff's Millenium Stadium may not be on the cards - but Nicky Forster had other ideas!
In troduced as a substitute, fine work down the right wing saw him send a wicked cross into the box that bounced in the direction of an expectant Martin Butler, who fired in to equaliser.
If drawing level in the 86th minute was dramatic enough, Reading's eventual winner was the blockbuster moment. Forster went on another mazy run on the right hand side, a carbon copy of that from the first goal, and was felled in the box to give the Royals a last minute penalty. Goal maestro Jamie Cureton saw his effort saved by Roy Carroll in goal, but Forster pounced to fire in the rebound.
You can check out the full highlights from that momentous evening above.
Head to Head
The Royals just have the edge in the head to head record, with one more victory compared to our hosts:
- Wigan Athletic wins - 20
- Draws - 12
- Reading wins - 21
Match Officials
- Referee - Ollie Yates
- Assitant Referee 1 - Mark Cunliffe
- Assistant Referee 2 - David Holmes
- Fourth Official - Scott Jackson