Boss Richie Barker hopes Crawley can make it fourth time lucky as they bid to claim a Premier League scalp for the first time.

Reds were handed a home tie with Reading in the third round of the FA Cup when the draw was made on Sunday Crawley have faced top flight opposition in the previous two years in the competition, losing in the fifth round to Manchester United and Stoke City.

The League One outfit also went down 3-2 at home to Swansea City in the Capital One Cup this season after leading 2-1 until the 74th minute.

Barker said: “You always look for a home draw against a top Premiership team. We are only 45 minutes from Reading and I would like to think it will be a sell-out, which would help with the finances, but in terms of progressing to the next round I think it’s going to be difficult, because there are no poor Premiership teams.

“We have been knocked out by Premiership clubs in the last two years and we have got another Premiership club again. We got beat by Swansea in the League Cup in the last minute this year, which is the closest we have come to beating a Premiership team in the club’s history, so hopefully we will go a step further.”