Turmoil at Reading is not just limited to their off-field distractions, as during Saturday’s trip to Exeter’s St James Park, the Royals’ shortcomings on the road bedevilled them once more as they suffered a second successive League One loss on rival territory.
Will Aimson’s deft header broke the deadlock for Exeter before Harvey Knibbs restored parity for Reading in the third minute of first-half injury time, but Ruben Selles’s side were ironically undone by a sweetly-struck half volley by Reece Cole in the third minute of second-half injury time.
With just five points to show from a possible 15 at the start of the campaign, Reading’s bid for an immediate return to the Championship has already encountered some roadblocks, but few expected the Royals to put four unanswered goals past Millwall in the first round of the EFL Cup earlier this month.
A return to their Madejski headquarters should also give the Reading faithful some comfort, as Selles’s men have enjoyed back-to-back wins over Cheltenham Town and Stevenage on their own patch without conceding, although they have not won three on the bounce at home in all tournaments since January.
Not since the 2019-20 season have Reading managed to progress as far as the third round of the EFL Cup, but a second-placed exit would be an improvement on their last two knockout campaigns, which ended at the first hurdle to Swansea City and Stevenage respectively.
While Reading succumbed to an added-time strike in their most recent league affair, Ipswich Town managed to make the net ripple with mere seconds remaining during the visit of Leeds United, but Conor Chaplin’s last-gasp effort was inconsequential as the Whites ran out 4-3 victors.
A Joe Rodon own goal had Ipswich in dreamland with seven minutes played, but a Leeds onslaught saw all of Georginio Rutter, Wilfried Gnonto and new arrival Joel Piroe breach the Tractor Boys’ backline, although Nathan Broadhead gave the hosts a sliver of hope just before the half-time whistle sounded
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However, Luis Sinisterra restored the Whites’ two-goal advantage, and Chaplin’s smart finish came too late for Kieran McKenna’s men to salvage anything from a pulsating second-tier scrap, as Ipswich’s four-game winning run in all tournaments came to a bitterly disappointing end.
That triumphant sequence included a 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers in the first round of the EFL Cup, but the Tractor Boys – who were losing semi-finalists in 1985 – have not got as far as round three since the 2015-16 season, where they were comfortably seen off by Manchester United.
As was the case with Reading, Ipswich were also dumped out in the first round of the tournament in 2021-22 and 2022-23, and Tuesday’s match will mark the first meeting between the two clubs since the 2018-19 Championship season, where the Royals left Portman Road with a 2-1 triumph to their name.
