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What a night it was last May. We went there nervously holding a one goal advantage from the first leg, a Graham Alexander penalty after Reading's central defender Andre Bikey had pulled back Steven Thompson.
We knew Bikey wouldn't be playing; he was either suspended or up at Turf Moor looking for his shirt. But we had to endure a tough first half before wonder strikes from Martin Paterson and Steven Thompson saw is safely through to Wembley and eventually the Premier League.
The Madejski was a ground we'd never previously won at, but what a time to do it. The Burnley fans were so fantastic that I'm sure even Kevin Blackwell and Aidy Boothroyd were joining in from the claptrappers' box.
"We're not going home, we're not going home," we sang long after the game had ended. The stewards and police prevented the Burnley players from coming out again so it was Glen Little who got the "You'll always be a Claret" chant as the home side warmed down.
I'm so hoping for a cup run again this season, maybe going even further than we did last season. I really want a win tomorrow to see us into the last sixteen, but if we do the celebrations won't be like they were last May.
Much has changed with Reading since that last visit. Last season was a strange one for them. For a long time they looked to be the best team in the Championship but a horrible loss of form, at home in particular, cost them dearly and what should have been automatic promotion ended with an out of form side going into the play offs.
Steve Coppell was the manager during those play offs, but he resigned immediately after the second leg. Brendan Rodgers came from Watford to replace him but he didn't last long and now long serving Brian McDermott is in temporary charge and expected to get the job on a full time basis.
It's a different looking Reading side too to the one that we played last May. Just take a look at this list of names who played in either or both of those play off legs against us - Marcus Hahnemann, Liam Rosenior, Andre Bikey, Michael Duberry, Dan Harding, Kevin Doyle, Dave Kitson, Stephen Hunt and Glen Little. That's nine of them who are no longer at Reading.
Much was expected of them this season with a promotion chase in what will be their second and last season with a parachute payment following relegation in 2008. Unfortunately it hasn't worked out that way. The poor results cost Rodgers his job and they are currently in the bottom three and a couple of points behind Sheffield Wednesday and safety.
Like Burnley they went out of the Carling Cup to Barnsley at Oakwell but in the FA Cup they come to this game having knocked out Liverpool. They drew the first game 1-1 at the Madejski with Simon Church getting the goal.
In the replay all looked lost at 1-0 down going into stoppage time. But a penalty, converted by Gylfi Sigurdsson took it to extra time and Shane Long won it for them.
Reading have two players out with long term injuries. Chris (Stretch Junior) Armstrong has played just once this season, in the Carling Cup back in August, and his knee injury is likely to keep him out for a while longer.
Noel Hunt, a scorer against us in the league at the Madejski last season, has had knee surgery and will be out for some considerable time.
Marek Matejovsky won't play because of an abdomen injury but the good news for Reading is that Gylfi Sigurdsson, who missed their league game at Nottingham Forest last week, has trained and is ready to return.
Reading's team in their win at Liverpool was: Adam Federici, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Ryan Bertrand, Matt Mills, Ivar Ingimarsson, Jem Karacan, Kalifa Cisse, Jobi McAnuff, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Grzegorz Rasiak, Simon Church. Subs: Ben Hamer, Jay Tabb, Alex Pearce, Marek Matejovsky, Brian Howard, Jimmy Kebe, Shane Long.
Brian Laws has brought in his first new signing today with AS Monaco striker Frédéric Nimani arriving on loan until the end of the season. Nimani won't be eligible for this game but Laws is able to add four extra players to those involved at Old Trafford last week.
Clarke Carlisle is back in training having missed the last four league and cup games with a groin injury, but Laws is also able to welcome back Chris McCann, Martin Paterson and Jay Rodriguez who have all returned to fitness and played in the reserves three days ago.
He's said the three long term absentees will be in the squad but it remains to be seen whether any of them get a start. The suggestion is they won't and Laws has said he's going to play his strongest team. That suggests he'll be as close to the team that played against Manchester United as possible.
One player ruled out is David Nugent. The chaos at Portsmouth has left him in limbo right now. His loan is at an end and despite attempts to extend it we've not been able to do that as yet.
Steven Thompson, whose last goal was that second at Reading in the play offs, could come in for Nugent with the team otherwise unchanged.
We could line up: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Chris Eagles, Wade Elliott, Kevin McDonald, Steven Thompson, Steven Fletcher. Subs from: Diego Penny, Richard Eckersley, Clarke Carlisle, Christian Kalvenes, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Fernando Guerrero, Martin Paterson, Jay Rodriguez.
Our last cup tie against Reading was as recent as three years ago. The third round tie was called off close to kick off because of a waterlogged pitch and was hastily re-arranged for three days later.
Ade Akinbiyi made his second debut for the Clarets after returning from Sheffield United and he turned in an excellent performance in a game that we should have won and found ourselves trying to get back into it from a 3-0 deficit.
The main culprits were Steve Jones, who missed two outstanding chances, and Brian Jensen who had a nightmare and was responsible for two of the goals. Leroy Lita and Shane Long scored in the first half and Sam Sodje made it three after the break.
Then, the impressive Akinbiyi pulled one back and the second came from Garreth O'Connor, his last for the club, in the dying minutes. Even so we had two good chances to equalise against the Premier League team.
Reporting for Clarets Mad, Pete Waters wrote: "There's a few old sayings in football that get repeated over and over again, one of them goes something like this: 'If you don't take your chances, then you'll get punished for it'."
That's just about what happened.
The teams were;
Reading: Adam Federici, Ulises de la Cruz, Ivar Ingimarsson (Alex Pearce 74), Sam Sodje, Scott Golbourne, Seol Ki-Hyeon, John Oster, Andre Bikey, Bobby Convey, Shane Long, Leroy Lita (Dave Kitson 60). Subs not used: Marcus Hahnemann, Stephen Hunt, James Harper.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Wayne Thomas, Stephen Foster, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Garreth O'Connor 84), James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Steve Jones (Alan Mahon 70), Gifton Noel-Williams (Kyle Lafferty 70), Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: John Spicer, Graham Branch.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1992/93 | 2 | h | 1-1 | 8,382 | Harper |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 6,398 | . |
1993/94 | 2 | a | 1-2 | 5,855 | Eyres(pen) |
| . | . | h | 0-1 | 11,650 | . |
1994/95 | 1 | a | 0-0 | 8,150 | . |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 9,841 | Parkinson |
1998/99 | 2 | a | 1-1 | 10,080 | Payton |
| . | . | h | 1-1 | 9,366 | Reid |
1999/2000 | 2 | a | 0-0 | 6,149 | . |
| . | . | h | 3-0 | 14,436 | Davis Payton Wright |
2002/03 | 1 | a | 0-3 | 12,009 | . |
| . | . | h | 2-5 | 14,420 | I Moore West |
2003/04 | 1 | h | 3-0 | 9,473 | Blake Chaplow Chadwick |
| . | . | a | 2-2 | 10,543 | I Moore May |
2004/05 | C | a | 0-0 | 15,400 | . |
| . | . | h | 0-0 | 11,392 | . |
2005/06 | C | a | 1-2 | 14,027 | Akinbiyi |
| . | . | h | 0-3 | 12,888 | . |
2006/07 | FAC | a | 2-3 | 11,514 | Akinbiyi G O'Connor |
2008/09 | C | a | 1-3 | 18,621 | McCann |
| . | . | h | 1-0 | 11,538 | Blake |
| . | PO | h | 1-0 | 18,853 | Alexander(pen) |
| . | . | a | 2-0 | 19,909 | Paterson Thompson |