Whenever I think about Reading, my mind always takes me back to the start of the 2001/2002 season when Blackpool's first game in League One was against the Royals. The game wasn't so much memorable for what happened on the pitch, but more for the fact that most Blackpool fans stood open mouthed in the South and East stands looking at the newly-erected stadium which had gone up over summer.

To be honest, I can remember little about the game other than for the fact we lost 2-0 and came away feeling quite optimistic about the fact we'd not been turned over by a side who, at the time, were considered to be way ahead of Blackpool in terms of squad and ability. Eight years on and with three quarters of the ground now built and the Seasiders 5th in the table, the two sides have swapped places. Whilst the Madejski Stadium is still one of the most impressive in the football league, Reading find themselves amongst the also rans in the league and have had such a poor start, it would be unlikely they'll be fighting for any glories by the end of the season. Indeed, 22nd in the league they still have someway to go to clear themselves of any relegation doubts.

Personally, I hate long standing records. I'm very uncomfortable about the fact that we've not yet lost at Bloomfield Road since the start of the season with Preston are next opponents (although we do have a decent record on Sky to fall back on) and in a similar way, we head to the Madejski Stadium with Reading without a home league win since January. The problems with records is they are there to be broken and you can guarantee that every Royals fan will be heading to the game this weekend thinking that this is the game where that unwanted record will go. That said, Blackpool's away form has hardly set the world alight this season and so Ian Holloway will be heading to Berkshire this weekend with a point to prove that we're not just a good home side.

The international break came at a good time for the Seasiders with the side carrying a few knocks. The likes of Neil Eardley and David Vaughan will have hopefully come through the last two weeks and can pick up where they left off which was in sparkling form. With Ishmel Demontagnac serving his final suspension, Ollie has practically a full squad to choose from and with Ormerod, Clarke and Burgess all scoring in Wednesday's behind closed doors game, it provides some interesting decisions for Holloway. Indeed, with Hameur Bouazza in Algeria meeting the President, there will have to be some changes.

Since Brendan Rodgers took over from Steve Coppell in June, things haven't been great at the Madejski, where there is the expectation of at least the play offs every season. Away from home they've been decent enough with 3 wins from 8 games but at home just 4 points from 24 tells it's own story. That said, they have played some decent teams at home and there haven't really been any 'shock' results against some of the leagues less fancied sides. The fact they've only scored three times at home all season is at the root of their problems. Church and Rasiak are the club's top scorers on 3 for the season.

Interesting that Reading's Brian Howard has said that despite the club's positions that people will still expect Reading to win this game - something Ian Holloway will probably be delighted to hear!