Royals supporters will need to keep a keen eye out for ball 27 in the Southern Section of the Carabao Cup First Round draw when it takes place on Thursday evening.
Thursday 20th June is #FixtureReleaseDay – we learn our Sky Bet Championship schedule at 9am, before the Carabao Cup draw takes place at 7pm that evening.
A total of 70 clubs enter at this stage: all sides from the three EFL divisions, with the exception of Cardiff City and Fulham, who get a bye into the Second Round.
Ray Parlour and John Barnes will be picking the numbers out of the hat for the cup competition, with the draw taking place at Morrisons in Colindale, round the corner from Wembley Stadium.
As ever, the draw for this stage is regionalised – we’re in the Southern Section and we could potentially face local opposition such as Oxford, Swindon or Wycombe, home or away. But equally we could potentially be handed lengthy away trips to the likes of Plymouth Argyle or Colchester United – all will be revealed on Thursday evening.
Unlike some previous years, there is no seeding in place – meaning that we could be paired with one of the other nine Championship sides in the Southern Section.
Carabao Cup First Round: Draw numbers | |||
Northern Section |
Ball | Southern Section |
Ball |
Accrington Stanley | 1 | AFC Wimbledon | 1 |
Barnsley | 2 | Birmingham City | 2 |
Blackburn Rovers | 3 | Brentford | 3 |
Blackpool | 4 | Bristol City | 4 |
Bolton Wanderers | 5 | Bristol Rovers | 5 |
Bradford City | 6 | Cambridge United | 6 |
Burton Albion | 7 | Charlton Athletic | 7 |
Bury | 8 | Cheltenham Town | 8 |
Carlisle United | 9 | Colchester United | 9 |
Crewe Alexandra | 10 | Coventry City | 10 |
Derby County | 11 | Crawley Town | 11 |
Doncaster Rovers | 12 | Exeter City | 12 |
Fleetwood Town | 13 | Forest Green Rovers | 13 |
Grimsby Town | 14 | Gillingham | 14 |
Huddersfield Town | 15 | Ipswich Town | 15 |
Hull City | 16 | Leyton Orient | 16 |
Leeds United | 17 | Luton Town | 17 |
Lincoln City | 18 | Millwall | 18 |
Macclesfield Town | 19 | MK Dons | 19 |
Mansfield Town | 20 | Newport County | 20 |
Middlesbrough | 21 | Northampton Town | 21 |
Morecambe | 22 | Oxford United | 22 |
Nottingham Forest | 23 | Peterborough United | 23 |
Oldham Athletic | 24 | Plymouth Argyle | 24 |
Port Vale | 25 | Portsmouth | 25 |
Preston North End | 26 | Queens Park Rangers | 26 |
Rochdale | 27 | Reading | 27 |
Rotherham United | 28 | Southend United | 28 |
Salford City | 29 | Stevenage | 29 |
Scunthorpe United | 30 | Swansea City | 30 |
Sheffield Wednesday | 31 | Swindon Town | 31 |
Shrewsbury Town | 32 | Walsall | 32 |
Stoke City | 33 | West Bromwich Albion | 33 |
Sunderland | 34 | Wycombe Wanderers | 34 |
Tranmere Rovers | 35 | ||
Wigan Athletic | 36 |