Reading have been given the task of overcoming Blackpool on the opening day of the upcoming 2022/23 campaign.

Doing the double over the Royals last season, including a heavy 4-0 defeat at Bloomfield Road, it has been eight years since a Reading league win over Blackpool and more than 20 years since a league win on the Lancashire coast.

We look back at three of the best matches with the Tangerines in the last 20 years.

Reading Chronicle:

Reading 5-1 Blackpool, Tuesday, January 28 2014

An inconsistent season which ultimately ended up in disappointment as Nigel Adkins' side dropped out of the play-offs on the final day, no period summed this up more than the end of January.

Unbeaten in the early league exchanges of 2014, the Royals beat Watford at Vicarage Road before ripping Bolton Wanderers apart in an emphatic 7-1 win at the Madejski Stadium- the only time Reading have hit seven at home since they moved to RG2.

They were brought back to Earth with a bang, losing 2-0 to Ipswich Town the following week, but put the demons of Portman Road to bed as they tore shreds out of struggling Blackpool- winning 5-1.

A second successive home hattrick for Adam Le Fondre was supplemented by strikes from Pavel Pogrebnyak and Hal Robson-Kanu as a four point gap was extended between sixth and seventh.

Thy backed it up with a 0-3 win at the Den against Millwall but would go on to win just six matches in the remaining four months to finish seventh.

Reading Chronicle:

Reading 3-1 Blackpool, Saturday, March 24 2012

Losing just one in the previous 10, the last game against Peterborough United, the pressure was on for Brian McDermott's title challengers to bounce back.

They certainly did that against Ian Holloway's play-off side, taking a two goal lead inside the opening half hour.

Lomana LuaLua pulled one back in stunning style but Mikele Leigertwood's rebound effort would put the hosts in control.

They would win five of their final seven, losing just one, to secure the Championship and a return to the top-flight, while the visitors would be losing play-off finalists to Sam Allardyce's West Ham.

Reading Chronicle:

Reading 3-0 Blackpool, Saturday, January 19 2002

Fresh from play-off heartbreak to Walsall in the third tier play-off final, Alan Pardew was determined to win promotion in 2002.

A comfortable win over the Tangerines in January was one of seven straight wins to lift the club into the top spot in the division.

Nicky Forster netted a hattrick and it looked like the race for on for a titl win, only for the club to stutter and draw nine of their last 10 matches.

It came down to a final day shootout at Griffin Park against Brentford, and the rest is history.