TOUGH RUN BEGINS AGAINST PLAY-OFF PUSHING FOREST
A tough run of fixtures begins for Reading with a trip to face play-off hopefuls Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Royals will be hoping to stop the rot of two consecutive defeats after back-to-back losses to Blackpool and Millwall.
Interim manager Paul Ince is looking to steer his team away from the relegation zone with a daunting run of fixtures against teams competing for promotion on the horizon.
Forest go into Saturday’s match with the play-offs still in their sights after an impressive run of form.
They had made a disastrous start to the season under Chris Hughton and were sitting at the bottom of the league when he was replaced by Steve Cooper.
Cooper has galvanised his side in which they have flown up the table and are now in ninth after 34 matches, just three points outside of the play-off places.
Forest continued their habit of scoring late goals on Friday when they snatched a last gasp equaliser against fellow top-six hopefuls Sheffield United.
Having missed a host of chances throughout the match, Forest finally breached the Blades defence in the 95th minute when Ryan Yates headed in to make it 1-1.
Unbeaten in their last five league matches, Forest have 46 goals to their name and have conceded 34 from 34 games.
Their top scorer is former Royals loanee Lewis Grabban who has 12 goals and four assist from 27 matches.
However, he will be unable to face his former team as he currently on the sidelines with an ankle injury which is expected to keep him out for a few more weeks.
Second top scorer Brennan Johnson has 10 goals and six assists to his name.
When the two teams met in November earlier in this campaign, the points were shared in a 1-1 draw.
Philip Zinckernagel gave Forest an early lead after four minutes, but Scott Dann scored in the second half to see the game locked in a stalemate.
Reading’s last trip to the City Ground also ended 1-1 in March
2021 after Yakou Meite grabbed an 81st minute leveller to cancel out Tom Holmes’ own goal.