This Tuesday (28 June) Newport County play their first of two home pre-season fixtures as Reading travel down to Rodney Parade.
This will be the first meeting between the sides since their EFL Cup fixture in 2024.
The Opposition
Reading finished in 12th place last season as they completed the campaign with 63 points, finishing 12 points away from a playoff spot.
Their top goalscorer last season was Jack Marriot who scored 16 goals whilst Lewis Wing managed to provide 11 assists.
Their biggest result last season was a 4-1 win against Plymouth Argyle as Wing managed to get a brace.
So far this pre-season The Royals have played two games as they beat Farnborough 2-1 and managed to keep a clean sheet against Woking as they won 2-0.
The History
Reading was officially formed on Christmas Day in 1871 and would establish themselves as a professional club in 1895.
In 1913 Reading had a tour of Italy and at the time were seen as one of the finest foreign teams to play in Italy which would result in Italian footballer Attilo Fresia to move to England and be the first Italian to play in England.
The Royals made it to the Football League in 1920 and were elected to the Football League Third Division South. Reading then made it to the Second Division in 1926.
The Club’s best performance in the FA Cup came in the following season as they made it to the semi-finals, where they would be eventually knocked out by Cardiff City who won the tournament that season.
However, after a few years in the Second Division Reading would be relegated and would not return until 1986 but would yet again get relegated two years later.
But, for the first time in club history, Reading reached Division One in 1994 but would be denied automatic entry to the Premier League and lose their Premier League spot in the playoff final to Bolton Wanderers.
Although in 2016 The Romans would finally achieve their mission of reaching the Premier League and would do it in fashion as they broke the points record at that time, managing to gain 106 points, only losing two games in the league that season.
In their first season they managed to finish in 8th place before being relegated the season after.
In most recent history, Reading have since been relegated to League One where they have remained a consistent side in the league since 2023.
Shared Shirts
Akin Odimayo spent most of his time at Reading playing in the youth team but did make one EFL Cup appearance in the 2019/20 season. He featured for the whole game as Reading defeated Plymouth Argyle 4-2. Odimayo also made 67 appearances across the U18 and U23’s in which he scored six goals.
However, at the start of the 2025/26 season, the defender joined County and played in seven games. The Englishman played in both the second and third round of the FA Cup as well as five league games with his biggest win coming in a 3-0 victory over Harrogate Town.
