Reading look set to meet former captain Alex Pearce later today as the defender lines up against his boyhood club for AFC Wimbledon.

Johnnie Jackson's Don's provide Reading with their first test of pre-season, kicking off at 10am UK time in Alicante.

Pearce, who played over 250 times for the Royals after rising through the Academy, joined the Wombles last summer and played over 30 times.

Now 34, the former club captain and Player of the Season is one of the few Championship title-winners still in professional action.

First going through first-team pre-season training in 2006, the former Republic of Ireland will face the Royals for the second time in two seasons having appeared in last year's 2-0 win for Paul Ince's men at Plough Lane.

Pearce is not the only player coming up against a former club, with Reading's Nesta Guinness-Walker set to face his only other professional employer.

The 22-year-old moved to Berkshire from the captial last summer having played more than 100 times for the 1988 FA Cup winners.

Reading Chronicle:

Appearing more than 30 times in his debut campaign, the full-back signed a new deal last month and will look to force himself to first choice in League One this coming season.

Fellow links between Wimbledon and Reading include current Director of Football Operations Mark Bowen, who had a spell in charge of the Don's, and Lawrie Sanchez.

Sanchez rose through the ranks at Elm Park and played more than 250 times in the 1970s and 1980s before repeating the feat in London- even scoring the winning goal in their FA Cup giant-killing against Liverpool.

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