Speaking to Get Reading ahead of this weekend’s home encounter with Fulham, Reading manager Brian McDermott has confirmed that Matej Vydra is unlikely to feature. The striker should return for their clash with Huddersfield Town next Tuesday.
Reflecting on last weekend’s epic 4-3 away victory at struggling Charlton Athletic, McDermott said that it is important his team learn from the mistakes they made at The Valley.
Vydra, on loan at the Madejski Stadium from Premier League side Watford, is the Royals’ top scorer but has sat out their last few games with a hamstring problem. McDermott confirmed that he will be back in training on Friday, but Saturday’s match should come too soon for him,
“He hasn’t trained yet. We’re hopeful he will train on Friday but the Fulham game will be too early for Matty.
“He went back to Watford for a couple of days. The medical staff wanted to check him out but he’s back here now.
“There’s a couple of others who have knocks and won’t train today, but come Friday we’re hopeful everybody else will be fit.”
Reading earned a rare away victory against the Addicks last week, scoring deep into added time after only conceding an equaliser moments before. He insists that his team must improve from a defensive aspect,
“We obviously made mistakes when we were 3-1 up.
“The game started to go against us when it was 3-2 – and that’s something we’ll talk about.
“We lost our way. We made mistakes and we’ll learn from that.”
Saturday’s match is the first of three in six days for Reading. They quickly follow up that game with a trip to Huddersfield on Tuesday, before a key FA Cup Quarter-Final versus Crystal Palace the following Friday. McDermott says he will take things one game at a time,
“What you don’t want to do is go into Crystal Palace under-cooked.
“You have to make sure you get the balance right.
“But my priority now is Fulham, then Huddersfield and then we’ll go from there.”
A win for Reading would consolidate their place in the top half of the Championship. A play off push is unlikely but anything but impossible. They also have a game in hand over some sides in and around them.
