Jobi on his winning brace

Skipper Jobi McAnuff has never been renowned for his goalscoring, making his brace against Birmingham even more surprising.

The former Watford winger had only scored 12 goals in 194 games before this one for Reading in all competitions, averaging around a goal every 16 games. His last league goal came against Barnsley over two years ago, but finally broke this duct against Birmingham on Saturday.

Speaking to the Official Reading FC website, the captain said: ‘Of course it`s nice to get a couple of goals and help the boys get the three points. I think Hope said a little prayer for me to get me some composure in the box, and maybe that helped today!’

‘I`ve been striking the ball well, but it’s just been a bit disappointing that I haven`t converted the chances up until now. So I was glad to see that first one go in. Then for the second one, Chrissy Gunter`s done well to get forward & I managed to get in at the back stick.’

I’m not sure about the usually ‘striking the ball well’ Jobi, but still, hopefully this will now give him the confidence to score a few more before the season’s end. There is no doubt that if his shooting was better then he would be getting double figures most seasons.