Battle of the young managers
Written by Mark Stokes on Friday 28th August 2009

Saturday will see 38 year old Simon Davey up against 36 year old Brendan Rodgers once more. It will be the third time they have met as managers.

The fist time was when Brendan was at the helm at Watford. On that occasion a late goal from Watford robbed Barnsley of victory. Brendan had done a great job at Watford lifting them out of the relegation danger area to finish the season in 13th position. When Steve Coppell resigned as Reading manager, Brendan's previous connections with the club and his excellent performance at Watford earned him a big move.

It has not gone to plan though for the manager from Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and Reading's only win of the season came in the first round of the Carling Cup. In four league games they have scored once and have just one point more than Barnsley.

Simon Davey has had 137 games as a manager compared to just 38 games from Rodgers, but proportionally their records are not too much different.

As we enter a two week break neither side will want to have to spend the time looking at a winless record in the Championship. For Barnsley, the best performances have come away from home, but Simon Davey will be keen to give the home fans something to shout about. He will have his work cut out with defensive problems - Hassell is out injured, Moore is a doubt, Potter is out for six weeks and O'Neil Thompson is awaiting international clearance.

The phycological advantage will be with Barnsley grabbing a late late winner on Tuesday night, but Reading will likely have a completely different and stronger team on Saturday. He has also signed Watford midfielder Jobi McAnuff and Southampton striker Grzegorz Rasiak to add to the squad.

There will be changes for Barnsley, but not on the same scale. Daniel Bogdanovic is sure to start with Andy Gray alongside.

Can Simon Davey make it three games against Brendan Rodgers unbeaten?

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