Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy has seen for himself the kind of threat Reading will pose to his team in their League One encounter in south Wales on Saturday (15:00 BST). With Cardiff sitting out last weekend's action due to international call-ups, the Irishman went to Exeter City to watch their 1-1 draw with the Royals. Former Wrexham striker Jack Marriott scored for the sixth successive match to put Reading ahead but their inability to hold on to their lead saw them drop into the relegation zone.
Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy has seen for himself the kind of threat Reading will pose to his team in their League One encounter in south Wales on Saturday (15:00 BST).
With Cardiff sitting out last weekend's action due to international call-ups, the Irishman went to Exeter City to watch their 1-1 draw with the Royals.
Former Wrexham striker Jack Marriott scored for the sixth successive match to put Reading ahead but their inability to hold on to their lead saw them drop into the relegation zone.
Reading have been beset by problems on and off the field in recent years, but Noel Hunt's side have improved in recent weeks having gone four matches unbeaten, albeit with three draws in their past three games.
"They're a very big club in this division and I went to watch the game against Exeter in person to get a feel of the qualities the have," said Barry-Murphy.
"When we're so busy watching games on video, sometimes you can watch a lot of different things but you don't quite get a feel of the quality of the players or what the intricacies of their play are.
"So I went to that game against Exeter and you saw that the squad is chock-full of highly talented players who've played at a much higher level.
"Where they are in the league is obviously not where they would want to be currently but it just gave me a great insight into the talent they possess and what we'd have to do to overcome it."
Having been born and raised in Cork, Barry-Murphy knows Hunt, who is from Waterford, which is also in the Irish province of Munster.
"I would have known Noel from an early age," said Barry-Murphy.
"He's from close to me in Ireland, so always you watch each other. There's more and more Irish head coaches coming to the fore in this country, which is great for us."
Category: General Sports