Sigurdsson was a big miss

The young Icelandic midfielder has gone from hopeful squad player to most important player in the space of just 6 months. Cast your mind back to the opening day of the season, against Forest, it was a surprise to even see his name on the bench. By the return fixture on Saturday, Sigurdsson was missing through injury and his importance to the side was all too evident.


Whilst I don’t think wide left is his best position, his absence from the team yesterday saw us lack a real creative spark from that side and we were lacklustre in the first half.


Sigurdsson has demonstrated a wonderful knack of finding the back of the net and also a superb free kick this season and both were sadly missing at the City Ground.


The Royals will hope their Icelandic youngster will be back in time for the next league fixture against Sheffield United in 10 days time.


And they could do well to ensure he is joined in the midfield by Brian Howard. The former Blades man in my opinion should have started on Saturday anyway, but his lively display after appearing as a half time sub was not over shadowed by a penalty miss. On another day he would have walked off the pitch with 3 assists and a goal, and the Royals would have recorded a comfortable win. Those fans getting on his back for the miss from the spot are probably the same one’s happy to sit and watch one decent performance in ten from Marek Matejovsky.


With players of this skill in the midfield, surely its not long before we are pulling away from the relegation zone – here’s hoping!