Crawley Town’s Mark Connolly insists all the pressure is on Reading ahead of their FA Cup Third Round tie on Saturday.
The Reds face Premier League opposition for the third successive season in the competition, and with the Royals searching for their best form in the top flight, Connolly believes Crawley can throw off the shackles against Brian McDermott’s men - who sit 33 places above them.
And with a sell out crowd expected, (more than 4,700 tickets have been sold, with Reading’s allocation taken-up) combined with the unpredictable Broadfield Stadium pitch, the ingredients could be there for yet another Crawley upset.
Crawley have already claimed cup scalps against Millwall and Bolton this season, in addition to the FA Cup shocks against Hull, Bristol City, Derby County, Swindon and Torquay in the last two years.
“I definitely think we have got a chance, the big teams would not like coming here,” Connolly said.
“They would not have known much about Crawley before, but now everyone knows about us, that is a brilliant thing.
“Coming off a win (against Colchester) gives us confidence, it would give any team confidence.
“It will be difficult, Reading are a Premier League team and they are not there for no reason, they are all big name players.
“But we want to get the fans behind us like we did against Bolton, and the pitch is difficult, the groundsmen have done their best and we are used to it now. We know it’s not ideal and Reading will be used to playing on pool tables.
“We are a League One team having come up from the Conference, so I think there is a lot of pressure on Reading. They are not doing as well as they hoped and we will have to go out there and enjoy it.”
Meanwhile, Reds’ assistant boss Anthony Williams said: “The pitch might not make that much difference, they (Reading) are quite direct. We will play our own style, we have good players and there is not much pressure on us.
“It’s a nice release from the League and it’s nice to go into it on the back of a win.”