[theo_luddite]

V

Terriers v The Royals
EFL Championship
Tuesday 21st February 2017

The McGalphsmiths Stadium
Stadium Way,
Huddersfield,
HD1 6PG,
England


Right folks, time to put them half'n'half scarves away and get a proper one for Tuesday night.



Hobnobs? A link to their thread on their Hob Nob Anyone? forum - http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.ph...89e6760bb7
On other threads they have been far more impressed with us than some other forums of so called big clubs that I could mention.

The skinny
3rd placed Town play Reading, in 4th, on Tuesday night in one of our remaining 4 fixtures against the current top 8 opposition, all at home. Reading are just 1 point below us on 60 after beating Brentford 3-2 last week. For once we avoided each other in the Cup 3rd Round and this has given Town what many view as a headache of a Cup run that we could maybe do without, but that Wagbo sees as just another great opportunity to see his boys on the grass.

Town lost the reverse fixture 1-0 back in September, despite being down to 10 men for much of the match after winger Rajiv van La Parra was sent off before the half-hour mark for two bookable offences. That defeat knocked us off the top perch and left Norwich a point above us. How things have changed since then. It was also our first defeat in 6 games against Reading in the League. See the table as it was below.



Compare that to the current table



Head-2-Head
In the League we've won 10 at home, losing 8, drawing 3. We've scored 33 goals to Reading's 22.





Town go into this game with 5 wins and a draw behind them, counting the well deserved draw against Man City in the Cup. Neither side has conceded a goal in the Cup this season so 0-0 was maybe predictable? Well done if you got few quid off those scallywags, the bookies. Reading, as mentioned above, have knocked Town out of the Cup several times recently and gone on to a Wembley Semi-final and a Quarter final. They have been around the top 6 for nearly all of the season and had a 9 game run where they held onto 3rd place.





Meanwhile back in The Championship
Saturday's League matches saw Brighton win 0-2 at Barnsley (we play Barnsley away on Saturday), Norwich lost 2-1 at Burton and L666s drew 1-1 at Ipswich. That put Brighton 7 points above us and back into 1st place, having played 1 game more, L666s 3 points below us in 5th, but now having played 2 games more than Town. Barnsley remain in 9th and Norwich 7th, 7 points adrift of Wendies (6th), also having played 33 games and 2 more than ourselves. Cardiff won 5-0 and although now in mid-table and 13 points adrift of Wendies, if they continue their current form they could be sniffing around a play-off spot when we play them at home in our last game of the season.

It's not too long ago both Town and Reading were looking nervously at the trap door as the season came to a close. This season we've both got bigger and better things in our sights. Former Dutch International Jaap Stam has a useful side at Reading and will give Town a stern test. In their last home game against Brentford they went 1-2 down after 66 mins but got 2 back in the 77th and 81st minutes to win.



The Players


One's to watch
Former Bornmuff man and joint leading scorer with 8 goals Yann Kermorgant in particular will have to be watched closely. He's just signed an extension to his contract.


Also on 8 goals are Garath McCleary and John Swift, with Roy Beerens on 7. McCleary also has 8 assists so he dosn't just chip in with goals.
Garath McCleary

John Swift

Roy Beerens




The last starting line-ups in the league were:

Town


Reading


We all know that Wagbo will make changes from the side that played in the Cup on Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised to see at least 8 different faces in the starting 11 and a team that is closer to the one at Rotherham, maybe with Wells and Kachunga back up front.

They can't both win

Well, all eyes are on us for this one, this is the only midweek fixture between Top 6 sides. Otherwise Newcastle play Monday night v Vanilla, Tuesday sees imploding Derby at home to Burton and Wendies home to Brentford with Fulham playing at Brizzle on Wednesday.



Attendance
It's unlikely that the attendance will match the one on Saturday but should still be up around our average of 20,000+. For reference the record attendance at the stadium is 24,129 for Saturday's FA Cup fifth round match between Huddersfield Town and Manchester City. The record for a Rugby League match is 24,126 for an Ashes match between Great Britain and Australia on 22 November 2003 * WIKI page regarding the stadium. According to the Yorkshire Post, the largest crowd for the Egg Chasers is actually 24,375 when England played Ireland in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. This is also confirmed on a separate WIKI page for the 2013 World Cup. Got to love those chaps at WIKI

Tea and biccies anyone?


To dunk, or not to dunk? That is the question.