Sone Aluko will return to former club Reading this evening as Town head for Berkshire seeking to win a place in the third round of the Carabao Cup for the first time in eight years.
The experienced winger spent four years with the Royals, having joined them in August 2017 from Fulham for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £7.5 million. Having signed a four-year deal, he departed in 2021 and joined Town the same year.
Aluko, 34, said: "It would have been nice if we’d be playing in the Championship this season, but when the draw was made, I must admit I had a little smile to myself.
"Although it’s a trip back to one of my previous clubs, though, the reality is that it’s just another game and one we want to win. The way we are at this club, we will treat it the same as any other.
"It will be the same as when we played Leeds on Saturday or when we went to Burnley in the FA Cup last season. We treat every game the same.
"I don’t honestly remember a game in my time at this club that has been treated any differently to the rest. The preparation will be the same, we’ll be going out to try to win, we’ll be brave, we’ll look to impose our style on the game and hopefully we’ll get a win.
"There were a lot of changes in my time there. There were four or five managers, for example, so it was a mixed time of some very good moments along with some low points when the team wasn’t doing too well.
"But that’s football – it’s full of ups and downs. I’ve enjoyed every day of every year I’ve been a professional footballer, so I’m not going to say anything negative about it.”
Aluko knows he will be one of several new faces in the Town starting line-up against Reading after manager Kieran McKenna made 11 changes from the side that won 2-1 on the opening day of the season at Sunderland to the one that triumphed 2-0 over Bristol Rovers three days later in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
It was the Hounslow-born Nigerian international, who also counts Aberdeen, Rangers and Hull among his former clubs in a career spanning 473 appearances in all competitions, who came off the bench midway through the second half and added to Jack Taylor’s first-half goal to book Town’s place in the second round.
He added: "It was nice to get a goal and to be back out there. I hadn’t played at Portman Road for a while, so it was nice to get some minutes in front of our fans.
"The Reading game is important for every player, for the squad, for the club and for the manager. We don’t rank games differently.
"We treat every opponent with the same respect and we prepare for every game the same way. We have a big squad so the more games we have, the more minutes players can have. We’re looking forward to another challenge.”
We won’t know until an hour before kick-off at the Madejski Stadium how many changes McKenna is going to make but Aluko added: "It can sometimes be the case that when you make as many as 11 changes the team doesn’t gel as quickly.
"I’ve been in teams before – at other clubs – when 11 changes have been made and you end up losing because of a lack of cohesion. But we’ll play the same style, no matter which players are selected.
"Our principles don’t change too much, no matter who we are playing. Everyone that came into the side against Bristol Rovers knew their jobs and I felt it showed.
"Now the carrot is to get through, the same as it would be for us to meet a League One or League Two club or if we’re drawn against another from the Championship or one of the big boys in the Premier League. The target’s the same, to get through.
"If we get past Reading it should make no difference to us who we play in the next round. We just want to win this next game and if get through I’d like a home game and it will be another opportunity for the squad to get minutes and learn.”