Manuel Pena Garces’ men endured a mixed set of results last weekend, winning 79-64 at Worthing Thunder before falling to a 75-72 reverse at Hemel Storm on Sunday.

They now sit fifth in the table, one place above Manchester, who go into the game on the back of an excellent 68-57 triumph against previous leaders Kent Crusaders.

Saturday’s clash will be the third time the sides have met this season, with Rockets claiming a 75-73 home win in the league back in November, before being defeated 76-58 in the National Cup final.

Reading will again be without key American guard Alex Zurn, and head coach Pena Garces is anticipating a tough test.

He admitted: “Manchester have been led really well by Ryan Lohfink and his American partner Ellis Cooper has won two MVP’s out of two and has become a real handful for most teams.

“They have a really nice balance in their group with Spanish forward Alvaro Alarcon’s nice inside-outside game as well as Jack Minister’s shooting and Franc Garcia’s leadership from the point guard position.”

He continued: “We know the dangers and we will need to focus on these and prepare well but ultimately it is down to how we respond this week and what we do on the practice floor that will determine the outcome of this game. I believe in my team a lot and we are looking forward to this test.”

He added: “We had a good game against them when we beat them at home and a bad game against them in the National Cup final so it is important we learn from both games and prepare against a team that has really excelled this year.”

Pena Garces was delighted with the win against Worthing but confessed the late defeat against Hemel – when his side led by a point with one minute remaining – had been a blow.

He said: “We did an excellent job on Saturday against Worthing and our second-half performance was one of the best this season.

“I was really pleased with the response, especially after a very poor game against NASSA. We knew Sunday’s game would be just as tough and unfortunately we had a poor final 90 seconds which cost us the game and hurt our chances of winning the title.”

Star performers for Reading against the Storm were captain Danny Carter (pictured above) with 18 points and American Deion Turman with 16.

The Rockets overturned a 15-point half-time deficit against Thunder the previous night thanks to a stunning 30-point haul from Turman and a further 20 from Carter.