Steve Clarke hoping to add to 'Cup of shocks' at Derby

Steve Clarke is hoping Reading can be the next team to add their name to this season’s "Cup of shocks."

The Royals boss takes his side to Championship high-fliers Derby County on Saturday, knowing that most people will see them as outsiders.

But having already seen his former club Chelsea lose to League One side Bradford City and Manchester City dumped out by Middlesbrough in the last round, Clarke knows that anything is possible.

"We're one of the underdogs, but I think you’ve got to put Bradford as an underdog as well, they had an amazing result in the last round," said the former West Bromwich Albion boss.

"But it's been a Cup of shocks this season and if we went to Derby and won it would be classed as a shock.

"It would only be a small shock, but we've worked hard to get to this stage and we're going to work even harder to get to the quarter finals."

Clarke is no stranger to the latter stages of The FA Cup himself, having been a losing Finalist with Chelsea in 1994 before winning the competition as a player in 1997 and then again as Jose Mourinho’s coach a decade later in 2007.

That means he has climbed the steps at both the old and new Wembley to collect a winners’ medal, and with a trip to the Semi-Finals now just two wins away, it’s something he still thinks about.

"It was nice to pick up the trophy as a player at the old stadium, some people might not even remember that," he added, with a chuckle.

Clarke in action against Manchester United's Ryan Giggs in The Final of 1994 at the old Wembley

"It was good and the old stadium was a special place, even though the new stadium is spectacular.

"But for me, the old stadium holds some great memories.

"Hopefully I can keep adding on to those old memories, but it's not about me, it's about Reading Football Club and trying to progress as far as we can in the competition."

Reading have yet to step out on their own turf at the Madejski Stadium in The Cup this season with Saturday’s game being their third successive trip to a fellow Championship club.

They have previously seen off Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City, but with Steve McClaren’s Derby side among the front-runners for promotion to the Premier League, the 51-year-old knows this tie won’t be an easy one.

"We go to Derby expecting a tough game because they've already beaten us twice this year," he said.

"We know it will be difficult but we go there in a good frame of mind, the boys are up for it and the manager's up for it as well, so we look forward to going up to Derby and trying to progress.

"We've had difficult draws, away draws always are, and drawing against a Championship team is also difficult for us.

"But we went to Huddersfield and put on a good, professional performance and nicked it 1-0. 

"We went to Cardiff in the last round and went behind but showed a great resilience to battle back and win the game down there and now we've got another tough one."