Reserves drop out of combination league

Ever since Alan Pardew restored the reserve team when he took over from Tommy Burns at the Madejski Stadium we have competed in the combination reserve league apart from out two years in the Premiership, when we played against the countries top second string sides.


However this season is going to be our last as the club confirmed on Tuesday that they will not play reserve league football next season, instead choosing to arrange their own reserve fixtures.


Whilst they have no problem with the running on that league, the standard of opposition has been a concern for many years and playing against reserve teams from the likes of Cheltenham and Lewes is not ideal for a club with Premiership ambitions.


We will now look to arrange games against Premiership and Championship clubs, as well as clubs who are over from abroad. This has been common for the past couple of seasons anyway and is sure to offer our young, or out of favour, players a better standard of opposition.