The Royals Rain..

No team reigned supreme in this match thanks to a different type of rain!

Our match at Reading was postponed ten minutes before kick off due to a waterlogged pitch.

At least last week, the fans of both the Clarets and Stoke got a little bit more warning but I know many Clarets who travelled to this match who must both be gutted and wet!

The Madejski Stadium was flooded due to a downpour prior to the match and referee Rob Styles appears to have had little option but to call the whole thing off

Rob Styles gave the reason as follows: 'The first option was to delay kick off for half an hour but having checked the weather forecasts and looking at the pitch it became clear that was not going to be an option.

'Putting it back until 6pm was not an option and that would probably have been the earliest we could have played it.

'The welfare of the players and also that of my colleagues - they are participants in a game as well - is important.'

So there we have it, no doubt a number of downcast, wet Clarets had to make the long trip back rueing the costs of the day out and wondering how they would get compensation for the tickets.

It was quite amazing though to watch some of the matches on Match of the Day from Southend in the South East over to London and right across the Thames Valley. It seemed to be chucking it down and the players were certainly sliding around on the pitch in what looked like puddles, especially in the Southend v Barnsley match!

I will leave it up to the chaps that went to the Reading match to comment, but was the weather more freakish than in some of the games that went ahead? Afterall the Madejski is a rather modern ground.

Oh well nothing can be done about it I guess. Being an old fogey who can remember matches in the 60s and 70s, I suspect the match would probably have been played in that era. In those days, they turned out to play in all weathers, snow,fog,rain,you name it! Guess we live in a different safety conscious world these days! The footballers of yesteryear though would have to be forgiven for uttering the word 'wimps' on occasions like these.

So where does this leave us? Well we do at least now make the hat for the 4th Round FA Cup draw this Monday.

One wonders if we draw a big club whether that would spur the Clarets on even more! Afterall Clubs like ours do need the money and its clear Reading treat the FA Cup with contempt! One wonders though if Reading will change their stance if both clubs stand a chance of playing Chelsea. Draw a big Premiership club and will Reading field a full strength team against us just to make sure of such a lucrative tie in the next round?

The club have announced that the FA Cup third round tie at Reading has been re-arranged for Tuesday, 9th January 9 with a 8pm Kick-Off

One of the benefits of postponing a match so close to kick-off is that we now probably know the team line-ups for the rearranged game on Tuesday night.

The teams were announced for the Saturday match as follows:

Reading:

Federici ,De la Cruz, Sodje ,Ingimarsson, Golbourne , Ki-Hyeon , Oster , Bikey ,Convey , Lita , Long

Substitutes: Hahnemann, Hunt, Kitson, Harper, Pearce

Burnley:

Jensen ,Thomas , McGreal , Foster, Harley , J O'Connor, Akinbiyi, Hyde, Elliott, Jones, Noel-Williams

Substitutes: Mahon, G O'Connor, McCann, Lafferty, Spicer

So barring any lurgies, flues or training injuries it is likely the line ups will be the same unless one or both managers play the psychological game and change things around at the last minute.

Good to see though that Ade was going to be in the starting line up, suggesting he is reasonably fit despite the lack of matches

All to play for on Tuesday, lets hope for that extra incentive of a good 4th Round Draw on Monday!

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