Reading v Burnley - Pete Oliver's big match preview

THE name Casper is more synonymous with putting the ball in the net at Turf Moor than keeping it out.

But first and foremost that's what Chris Casper will be trying to do when he shores up the Reading rearguard against Burnley tomorrow.

While his father Frank was a Clarets striker from the late sixties to the mid-seventies, Chris is making his way in the game as a highly-rated central defender.

Manchester United - rather than Burnley, where Frank had been a long-serving coach and then manager from 1989 to 1991 - was where Casper junior was groomed.

But the England under-21 international had to look elsewhere for regular first-team football and the Royals paid £200,000 for his services last September to set up a return to his home town tomorrow.

"I am looking forward to playing at Turf Moor. I always love coming back and playing up north and hopefully it will be a good game. "I was born and bred in Burnley and have always been a Burnley fan, apart from Saturday when I'll have a job to do," he said.

Casper, who will be watched by his father, was a free-scoring midfielder with Barrowford Celtic in the Hyndburn Boys' League and a pupil at St Theodore's in Burnley.

He represented Lancashire Schools at under-19 level but finished his studies at 16 to become a trainee at Old Trafford.

It was an apprenticeship at the top of the game, although after signing professional terms first-team opportunities were naturally limited.

"It's one of the biggest and best clubs in the world and I had neary eight great years there.

"If you can't learn from that you can't learn from anything. I have taken positive things from the experience and try and take them into whatever I do," he said.

Three seasons ago, Casper played 16 games on loan for Bournemouth, including one at Turf Moor, and last season made nine appearances for Swindon Town. "I had had a taste of first-team football and playing regularly on a Saturday afternoon and Reading came in with a good opportunity for me.

"They are an up-and-coming club, ambitious, and I thought it would be a good move," he added.

Casper joined Reading when they were second bottom of the table. They are now 11th and still harbour play-off hopes. "We got off to a slow start. We started to turn the corner and just about got level on points with the play-off places but then the last couple of games we have had a lot of suspensions and injuries and we've got to learn from that situation.

"But with 17 or 18 games left in the season we are looking to win as many as we can."

A new side has taken time to come together for manager Tommy Burns, but Casper has been one of his shrewdest buys and is regarded by regular Reading watchers as a lynch-pin of the team.

It's no coincidence that he was unavailable when Reading were crushed 6-0 at home by a Bristol Rovers side beaten 4-3 by the Clarets a week earlier. "There's always room for improvement but things could have gone a lot worse for me I suppose," Casper admitted.

"The manager has shown a lot of faith in me and he made me captain last Saturday which was a big boost for me."

He is likely to relinquish that role against Burnley when Phil Parkinson returns from injury. But Casper looks to have his career on an upward path and is far from bitter when watching former Manchester United 1992 Youth Cup winning team-mates David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt at the top of the Premiership. "I always say there's no envy or jealousy and I'm still great mates with all of them," said Casper, who has invited England international Gary Neville along to tomorrow's game.

"Being a centre-half I was always in opposition with Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce which held me back a little bit but I can't turn round and say they had more chances. Everybody was treated the same.

"It's not gone that badly for me. I'm still only 23 and there's still a long time to go in my career."

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