Wycombe Wanderers boss Matt Bloomfield is braced for a 'tough afternoon' as he takes his Chairboys team to the SCL Stadium to face near-neighbours Reading.

Both sat in the bottom half of League One, separated by just two points, the Buckinghamshire-based outfit are to walk out in RG2 for the first time in four years, and the first time in over 20 years with their supporters due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ruben Selles' men earned an emotional win in the reverse fixture at Adams Park, the club's first win away from home in 378 days, with almost 2,000 travelling supporters in tow.

Since Christmas, only five teams are in better form than Reading, but the Royals face an off-field crisis as ownership problems roll into the final 10 games of the campaign.

"We know and respect the challenge that Reading are going to bring," club legend Bloomfield commented on Reading. "They’ve got some really good players, some really good individual players within a team unit that looks really cohesive at the minute, so we know we’re in for a tough afternoon. If we concentrate on ourselves, be the best we can be and control the game as much as we can both in and out of position, then hopefully we can have a good afternoon."

Reading Chronicle:

The nearest fixture for the two sides, the Berks-Bucks Derby is set to bring out a bumper crowd at the SCL Stadium.

"It is just another match, but with it comes the excitement of it being a local derby," Bloomfield added. "It’s one the supporters would love to win so I’d love to do that for them. As a manager and players, all we have to do is focus on the process to get us the end result, we can’t live in the future of Saturday at five o’clock, we have to prepare right."