For Steve Clarke , there were no apologies , no guilt and no sense of remorse . He deemed the nine changes before their defeat at Watford necessary if Reading are to be ready for Bradford in their FA Cup quarter-final replay on Monday night . Of those nine , four were making full debuts . Discounting Simon Cox , the rest of the Royals side had made just 34 Championship starts between them this season . Whatever Clarke says , this was an unwrapped gift to a team chasing promotion to the Premier League . But the manager must be well down the list when blame is apportioned . Jem Karacan 's Reading team-mates gather to congratulate the midfielder after his goal against Watford . Steve Clarke played a decidedly under strength side at Vicarage Road that will completely change on Monday . Reading 's Pavel Pogrebnyak and Bradford 's Stephen Darby clash in the 0-0 draw that forced Monday 's FA Cup replay at the Madejski Stadium , with both sides nursing their squads in the lead-up to the fixture . It is the fault of broadcasters that he had just 48 hours between leaving Vicarage Road on Saturday and kicking off against Phil Parkinson ’ s Bradford on Monday evening . Domestic cup fixtures can not be played on the same night as Champions League games and , as such , there is no way around this ludicrous situation . Clarke is expected to name a completely fresh XI at the Madejski Stadium , while Parkinson , who made six changes of his own side for the 1-1 draw at Notts County , will mix and match , too . Bradford had five players who retained their place from the Cup game . Reading had none . Fifteen changes was the sum total and for one reason only . Clarke is dealing with a ludicrous 48-hour turnaround between playing Watford and Bradford . These will be two teams going hell for leather in a competition they have prioritised . Their tedious goalless draw at Valley Parade last week may have been wretched to watch , but this tie is harking back to the FA Cup ’ s old days , neither side giving an inch . They could not bear losing at this stage . Reading supporters won ’ t remember the 4-1 defeat at Watford in a decade ’ s time , but a day out at Wembley , taking on holders Arsenal , would stick in the memory should they progress . The Royals have nothing to play for in the league . They are safe and will not trouble the second tier ’ s play-offs . Almen Abdi ( centre ) scored the opener against a Reading side with nothing to play for in the league . And club captain Jem Karacan , who made only his second appearance for the club since September 2013 because of injury , backed his manager ’ s decision to ring the changes . ‘ The gaffer has to bear the replay in mind , ’ said Karacan , who scored his side ’ s consolation as Watford ran riot with strikes from Almen Abdi , Matej Vydra , Troy Deeney and Fernando Forestieri . ‘ If you put a team out that doesn ’ t win at Watford you get criticised , but if you don ’ t win on Monday you get criticised as well so it ’ s a catch-22 for the gaffer . ‘ Playing at Wembley is one of those things that you just can ’ t describe . The feeling we had when we went there before ( the 2011 Championship play-off final loss to Swansea ) will always stay with me. ’ Reading 's Yakubu Aiyegbeni passes under pressure as his side struggled against the promotion hopefuls . Parkinson has had a trickier balancing act . Bradford are three points beneath the League One play-offs and will have two games in hand once Tuesday ’ s programme of fixtures is complete . He couldn ’ t afford to make changes quite so wholesale for their trip to Nottingham , knowing promotion is by no means out of the question . Those in West Yorkshire will think of two years ago when they were capable of juggling that fairytale journey to the Capital One Cup final and the league campaign , which ended in promotion from League Two . Reading will doubtless have the fresher side tonight and Parkinson knows his team blew their best chance of reaching the semi-finals . But they feed off adrenaline . Just ask Chelsea and Sunderland . Two games in three days will not faze this collection of loanees and cast-offs . After all , Arsenal await . PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEKEND . Maybe , just maybe , Ronnie Moore can inspire Hartlepool to Football League survival . Marooned at the foot of League Two for months , all looked lost . The 1-0 win at Morecambe - thanks to an Andy Parrish own goal - was their first three points on the road since October , their first clean sheet away from Victoria Park for 12 months and puts them within two results of safety . No wonder defender Scott Harrison was close to tears in the dressing room afterwards . WHAT 'S CAUGHT MY EYE .
Reading were battered 4-1 by Watford on Saturday at Vicarage Road . Malky Mackay starting side will be entirely different on Monday night . Reading have just 48 hours between leaving Watford and kicking off against League One 's Bradford for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals . Steve Clarke 's was on the brink of being given the boot by Wigan four weeks ago . Remarkably the Latics then went on a four-match winning run away from home , including Saturday ’ s 2-1 win at relegation rivals Rotherham , to give themselves hope in the Championship . It might finally be time for Preston to return to the Championship . They walloped Crewe 5-1 at Deepdale — Joe Garner netting four — to retain their two-point lead over Swindon in the race for second in League One . Carlisle had the chance to become the first team in almost half a century to go 30 games without drawing . Manager Keith Curle said it was ‘ all or nothing ’ for his team . That was before they drew 0-0 at York .