Alex gets international nod

Royals defender Alex Pearce has received his first call-up to the senior Irish squad for their friendly against Oman in London on Tuesday night.The 23-year-old came through our Academy to be named player of the season as we won the npower Championship last season, and has performed well in both of our Barclays Premier League games this season, more than holding his own against the likes of Peter Crouch and Fernando Torres. He has not missed a minute of League football for the Royals in almost 13 months now.Alex played for Ireland at u14s level alongside players such as Anthony Stokes, and although he later represented Scotland at u21s level, he said last month that Ireland was always his preferred international option because of his family's roots in the Emerald Isle.This call-up is a major step for the centre half and the club would like to congratulate him on being selected. If he plays in an Ireland shirt he will become another of our Academy players to make the international stages alongside the likes of Simon Church, Hal Robson-Kanu, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Simon Cox and more besides.The game kicks off at 7:30pm on Tuesday 11th September at Fulham's Craven Cottage ground. The only place to watch live in the UK is live online for £2.99 at livesport.tv