STAM BACKS SHY ROYALS TO SPARKLE

JAAP STAM’S Reading side will look to avoid an FA Cup banana skin tomorrow after extending their winless run to eight games.

League Two Stevenage visit the Madejski Stadium and will look to take advantage of a Royals side low on confidence and who have yet to score in 2018.

But boss Stam felt his team showed signs of improvement in this dreadful draw at Hull.

The Dutchman said: “Football is about feeling. It’s about confidence in sport in general. If the feeling is not there, it’s difficult to get it back.

“If everything is going right, every ball the strikers hit flies in.

“When it’s not going well, you don’t get the opportunities or you don’t score the goals.

“But a good result can change the whole thing.

“We have players who have quality and can keep clean sheets and score goals, but you need to get into the right positions and finish off the chances you get.”

Hull boss Nigel Adkins – who used to manage the Royals – was also positive even though he only has one league win to his name and the Tigers are just one point above the drop zone.

Adkins said: “It’s a third clean sheet in five games. I know that we need to win games, but we’re building towards that.

“If we keep doing the right things, then we have more of a chance of winning games instead of having to score at least two or three goals to win.”