Peterborough United vs Reading: 2026/27 FA Cup Match Preview
It’s the FA Cup, and it’s on TV! Father vs son too, (if he plays). It’s also the return of a Royals academy graduate in Liam Kelly.
It was a tough loss to take against Oxford United in midweek. Rivalry aside, Reading have played a lot better than what they did.
The Royals saw pretty much none of the ball, especially in the second half, and two goals midway through that period dictated the match. Reading could have – and should have – scored at least once, with Jeriel Dorsett almost getting a goal but it was saved on the line.
Speaking of Dorsett, I actually thought he had a decent game. Not to jinx it but he has been playing well. Hopefully this can continue.
Peterborough United aren’t playing too well. Under new manager Robbie Savage it seemed to be looking up with a few draws, but after back-to-back losses against Blackpool and Luton Town, Posh find themselves scraping relegation and could be favourites for the drop.
But it’s the cup, anything can happen.
The last few years has been hit-and-miss for Reading. A loss to Carlisle United last year, a loss to Burnley the year before, but we did score the first goal against them in a very long time, from very far away thanks to Lewis Wing.
Hopefully they can get through this round, and then get an easy game, or a good opponent to get some money into the club.
In this preview I mention players who’ve played for both and I will give my predictions.
Players who have played for both
There are nine players who have played for both clubs. The app I use says eight but it hasn’t taken one into account yet. Here are three of them!
How about we start with the best player on the list? Jack Marriott has played 35 games for Reading, scoring 25 goals and getting three assists. He has been a revelation at the club and, coming back from injury, hopefully he can continue banging in the goals.
He played 114 games for Posh, scoring 49 goals and getting seven assists.
The next player is Josh Knight. He has made two appearances for Reading so far, getting neither a goal nor an assist.
He looks promising but isn’t going to get in over Paudie O’Connor and Benn Ward. They are too good.
Knight played 169 games for Peterborough, scoring 11 goals and getting eight assists.
Finally we have Liam Kelly, who played 94 games for Reading, scoring nine goals and getting nine assists.
He has so far played 17 games for Posh, not yet getting any goal involvements.
Kelly is one player I miss at Reading. He brought so much to the midfield alongside John Swift.
My predictions
This is a weird one to predict, a cup game that means something. Let’s see how right I can get this.
Jack Stevens may be in goal.
Udoka Godwin-Malife, Paudie O’Connor, Jeriel Dorsett and Haydon Roberts will be the defence.
Kyreece Lisbie, Charlie Savage, Andy Rinomhota and Randell Williams will be the midfield.
Josh Stokes will sit behind Jack Marriott.
Score prediction: 2-0 Reading!
I think Wing may start on the bench for this one. I am not an advocate for it, but the people have spoken and believe he hasn’t been up to the heights he was last season.
I don’t actually think that is the case. The team itself has improved massively and he’s not needed to do as much as he did last season.
Good luck to those going to the game. But if you’re not, it’s available on TNT.
Come on you Royals!
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.