Championship Semi-Final First Leg Preview - Reading v Cardiff
Reading and Cardiff City square off at the Madejski Stadium on Friday night in the first leg of their Championship semi-final. Reading have the slight edge in the odds over Cardiff in the first leg after a solid finish to the regular season, but Cardiff are favoured to qualify for the finals.
Manager Brian McDermott must be feeling fairly confident after his Reading side lost only one of the last 16 matches of the regular season. Cardiff lost to in the final to Blackpool at Wembley last year. They were primed for a promotion this season but only won one of their last four matches and finished fourth in the league as Norwich advances to the Premiership instead.
Reading finished three points behind Cardiff. The two side split their two league meetings this season. The first match in November resulted in a 1-1 draw with some controversy over Jay Bothroyd’s equalizer for Cardiff since TV replays showed the ball didn’t cross the line. The second meeting in February came down to the wire again when Craig Bellamy tied it for a 2-2 draw in the seventh minute of extra time. Bothroyd and Bellamy each have 13/2 odds at SkyBet to score first for Cardiff in the match on Friday night.
The scoring is bountiful between these two teams and bookmakers have taken note so there is no real value there. But, three of the six goals between the two have been very late in the match, so that has some value. Skybet has 13/8 odds for one second-half goal and 5/2 odds for two second-half goals.
Shane Long has scored 21 goals on the season and is a good bet to score first for Reading. He has 5/1 odds at SkyBet to do so.
Reading v Cardiff Match Odds (supplied by SkyBet)
Reading: 23/20
Draw: 9/4
Cardiff: 12/5