Simon Church bullish about Reading's chances

11 April 2012

Reading striker Simon Church has warned Liverpool not to underestimate his side as they look to dump the seven-time FA Cup winners out of the competition.

The Royals will swap the lower reaches of the Coca-Cola Championship for the bright lights of Anfield this evening as they look to make it through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Brian McDermott's side earned a third-round replay against the Reds after holding the 2006 winners to a 1-1 home draw on January 2.

Church opened the scoring at the Madejski Stadium and is hoping he can repeat the feat tonight.

"You always want to play in the big stadiums and against the big players and it would be great to score at Anfield," the 21-year-old said.

"People think it will be a walkover for Liverpool but we have to have the belief that we can go there and give them a game.

"We can take a lot of confidence from the first game because they obviously put out a full-strength team and we kept them quiet for a long time. We also created a lot of chances so we can only take that confidence in with us."

Church is widely regarded as one of Wales' brightest prospects and already has six caps.

The club recently gave him a new three-year contract in an attempt to ward off reported interest from Barclays Premier League sides and he is not fazed by the prospect at coming up against one of the top flight's most experienced defenders in Jamie Carragher.

"Jamie Carragher is just a name at the end of the day," said Church.

"Obviously he has great experience and has played at the highest level but it's a chance for me to go out there and show what I can do.

"It's atmospheres like that you want to play in front of week in week out so for me and for the rest of the lads we'll take a lot out of it and hopefully we'll put on a good show."

McDermott, who has been in temporary charge of the club since Brendan Rodgers' departure last month, will be without ineligible loan signings Andy Griffin and Gunnar Thorvaldsson but otherwise has a full squad to choose from.

He believes a win over Liverpool will go a long way towards securing himself the manager's job on a permanent basis.

"Will winning at Anfield help me get the job? It will certainly help," the 48-year-old said.

"It has been well documented that I want the job and I think I should get it.

"If we produce what we are capable of then we have a good chance of winning."

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