Football – England – Championship
Wednesday 1st October 2014 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Leeds owner Massimo Cellino pulled off yet another ‘master-stroke’ recently by replacing care-taker manager Neil Redfearn with new replacement Darko Milanic – and Leeds promptly lost away at Brentford 0-2 which ended all the good work Redfearn had done in the space of 90 minutes!
Following the controversial sacking of former manager Dave Hockaday after just six matches, who was a surprise appointment in the first place, Neil Redfearn steadied the ship as Leeds went unbeaten for four matches, winning three of them – Bolton 1-0, Bournemouth 3-1 (away) and Huddersfield Town 3-0.
But Cellino, clearly lacking a footballing brain, installed Milanic in Redfearn’s place, and well, the result was a defeat. It appears it’s back to square one for Leeds but they do have a chance to bounce back tonight against Reading who have not been known for their prowess away from home in recent matches.
Onto Reading then, and The Royals have suffered a bit of a hiccup in their last two league matches following three wins on the trot against Middlesbrough, Fulham and Millwall as they lost at Sheffield Wednesday and drew with Wolves 3-3.
However, Reading have won just twice in their last seven on the road which were wins at relegated Doncaster Rovers towards the end of last season’s Championship campaign, and inconsistent Middlesbrough.
But with defeats at Nottingham Forest (a heavy 0-4 loss) and Sheffield Wednesday, along with a draw at off-colour Wigan Athletic, they may find things tough going at Elland Road tonight with an overall away record of 1-1-2 3/7 behind them.
Despite the ongoing farcical wranglings of Cellino in the background, I do feel Leeds are a chance here tonight at least not to lose. I recommend backing them with the round ball here, but they might edge this one perhaps 2-1.
Pick: Leeds United AH0 @ 1.95 bet365
