Match preview: Reading v Owls

5 March 2021

Sheffield Wednesday head to Reading on Saturday looking to post a first win under new manager Darren Moore, who takes charge of his second game after less than a week at the club.

The Owls will be aiming to put a halt to the current run of five straight defeats, while Reading head into the game in good form with back-to-back wins over Rotherham and Blackburn.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game:

MATCH DETAILS

Date: Saturday 6 March
Kick-off: 3.00pm
Championship
Madejski Stadium

OFFICIALS

Referee – James Linington
Assistant Referee 1 - Nigel Lugg
Assistant Referee 2 - George Byrne
Fourth Official - Benjamin Speedie

LIVE BROADCAST

The game will be broadcast live on iFollow with four-camera coverage and commentary from Rob O’Neill and John Pearson.

You can purchase a match pass for £10 by CLICKING HERE.

FOLLOW THE GAME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Our official Twitter account @swfc will provide a blow by blow text update of the game, as well as posting key information from the fixture, including team news at 2.00pm.

THE MANAGER: Darren Moore

💬 "𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗲" #swfc pic.twitter.com/3dZMb8F5cP
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) March 5, 2021

“In this league, with us playing a couple of games a week, the pendulum can shift very, very quickly should you get a couple of results back-to-back.

The door can be opened and pull a lot of people back in - the Championship has always been renowned as a league that is nip and tuck from top to bottom.”

TEAM NEWS

Owls: Wednesday have no fresh injury concerns following the clash with Rotherham in midweek.

Keiren Westwood (rib) and Andre Green (Achilles) are edging closer to a return but will not be part of the squad travelling to Berkshire.

Massimo Luongo (knee) remains sidelined and the Owls boss is hopeful more will known next week as to a timescale on his on his return to training.

Reading: Former Owls defender Michael Morrison (hamstring) is a doubt for Royals.

Midfielder Andy Rinomhota has also suffered a hamstring injury and is not expected back until after the international break.

John Swift (hamstring) is sidelined, while Yakou Meite (groin) and Lewis Gibson (quad) will be hoping to return to the squad.

FORM GUIDE

Owls: LLLLL
Reading: WLLWW

LAST TIME AT THE MADEJSKI

LAST FIVE v Reading

Owls 1-1 Reading – 2 December 2020 – Championship
Owls 0-3 Reading – 15 February 2020 – Championship
Reading 1-3 Owls – 3 August 2019 – Championship
Owls 0-0 Reading– 9 February 2019 – Championship
Reading 1-2 Owls – 1 September 2018 – Championship

Match Reports

Report: Reading 3-0 Wednesday

6 March 2021

Ten-man Wednesday went down 3-0 at Reading to stay at the heart of the relegation battle.

A relatively even contest turned just past the half-hour mark when Julian Börner was sent off for a professional foul and Michael Olise converted the resulting penalty.

Ex-Owl Lucas Joao and Andy Yiadom secured victory in the second half to leave the Owls facing an uphill task to retain Championship status.

But the story of the game may have read differently had fortune smiled on Wednesday from their first attack.

Kadeem Harris swung a corner to the back post, where Tom Lees leapt to beat keeper Rafael with the header only to see the ball cannon off the crossbar.

And that was about as good as it got for the Owls. As Reading grew more and more into the game, the deadlock was broken on 29 minutes from the spot. And it was double trouble for the visitors, who went down to 10 in the process.

Börner chased George Puscas down as he scampered through on goal but caught the Romanian from behind and the referee gave the penalty.

Out came the red card too for Börner before Olise dispatched with some aplomb, sending Joe Wildsmith the wrong way.

And from that juncture, Wednesday were on the back foot as the Royals made their numerical advantage count.

The Owls just could not escape their own half for the remainder of the opening 45 and the pattern of play was the same after the break.

Just three minutes in, Joao came within a whisker of making it 2-0, flicking cleverly against the bar from an Olise corner.

Joao sent another chance wide moments later before Tom Holmes was inches wide on the angle.

But Joao would not be denied and the Portuguese put the points out of reach on 65 minutes.

Yiadom found space down the right and looked up to find the advancing Joao, who stroked into the back of the net from 12 yards.

Try as they might, Wednesday could not fashion a route on goal and the miserable afternoon in Berkshire was complete when Yiadon drilled low and hard into the far corner three minutes from time.

Wednesday: Wildsmith, Uroghide, Lees, Börner (S/0 32), Palmer, Harris (Rhodes 69), Hutchinson, Shaw, Bannan (Penney 32), Windass (Pelupessy 85), Paterson (Marriott 69)