Published: Monday, 13th October, 2008 9:00am

Dillon critical of fixture list

by Anthony Smith

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Heavy load: Brynjar Gunnarsson is among the Reading players on international duty this week.

KEVIN Dillon has bemoaned the fixture list as Reading face more travel turmoil ahead of Saturday's Championship clash against Preston North End at Deepdale (3pm ko).

Once again Royals will be forced to make special transport arrangements as they face yet another long journey immediately after an international break.

The problem is nothing new and in the past results have dipped dramatically in the games immediately after a similar break.

Just last month Royals lost 2-0 at Ipswich Town following a round of World Cup qualifying matches in which they had five players on duty with their countries.

This time Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt, Shane Long, Andre Bikey and Brynjar Gunnarsson will have been away, though Jem Karacan, Marek Matejovsky, Kalifa Cisse and Jimmy Kebe withdrew because of injury.

And while first-team coach Dillon admits the gap in league action will help players recover from any knocks, a near 500-mile round trip to Lancashire this Saturday is clearly not ideal.

"It was as good a time as any to have a break but once again, we have a ridiculously long trip after an international break which we always seem to have," complained Dillon.

"It's Preston away so we have to change all our normal plans to accommodate everyone including the lads who are away.

"We will probably go up there earlier and train somewhere near Preston rather than train here in Reading and have to travel through all the traffic so it's far from ideal."

Cameroon star Bikey was due to report back on Monday but Republic of Ireland trio Doyle, Hunt and Long are set to face Cyprus in Dublin on Wednesday night and Gunnarsson's Iceland play Macedonia.

Royals faces similar problems in the Premier League last season when international breaks were followed by away defeats at Bolton, Sunderland, Blackburn, Manchester City and Everton.

"We've had this for three years now," added Dillon. "We had it in the Premier League when we did a ridiculous amount of miles after an international game, probably more than anyone else.

"But even Manchester United suffered. They had games early on a Saturday morning and it's just one of those things."

Reading, currently the highest goalscorers in England, will be looking to build on their last outing on the road, a 3-0 victory at the then leaders Wolves that secured their first away win of the season.

Before that had lost twice on their travels at Ipswich and also at Charlton in what Dillon suggests were strange circumstances.

"Doyle and Hunty had been away with Ireland and they were shattered, they shouldn't have played really," he argued. "We had to fly them direct to Ipswich and we didn't see them until the afternoon before the game. They were both knackered.

"Charlton was a funny kick-off at 12.15 which we haven't had many of. Like Doyler said, his clock was all wrong and I'm sure it did throw some people out a little. To be honest, Charlton were the better team and deserved to win."

Reading, who lie third in the table, head to Lancashire searching for their fourth successive Championship victory.

"The gaffer wanted to keep going but we've got a few tired bodies and bumps and bruises," explained Dillon. "We're a strong unit and we've got players coming back from injury like James Harper, Michael Duberry and Graeme Murty and Marek Matejovsky."

Noel Hunt is also likely to be available this weekend for Preston having suffered a nasty head injury in the last home game against Burnley. The 25-year-old striker lost his memory and couldn't remember scoring the first goal in a 3-1 victory.