Talkings points from Newcastle game

We take a look at some of the talking points surrounding the team, following the draw with Newcastle on Tuesday night.

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A draw for a fair result and Stam was right to play for it – It was probably one of the more entertaining stalemate`s we are going to witness this season, but it proved we are more than capable of mixing it with the best. Both sides struggled to create any big opportunities, Grabban and Murphy probably had them respectively in either half, and we both hit the woodwork. At a push, Newcastle were the more dangerous of the two sides, but the points were deservedly shared in my eyes. This then ties in with both managers` mentality for this game – Stam and Rafa happily took a point. We were content with keeping the ball, while Newcastle weren`t overly keen on pressing. The final five minutes summed up who neither team really wanted to take the risk and I completely understand Stam`s approach. A point against top of the table with the best away record could be a crucial point come the end of the season.

Moore`s injury was the only negative to take from the game – Liam Moore unfortunately pulled up with a hamstring injury early in the second half, and had to be replaced by Jordan Obita, meaning Blackett reverted back to centre half. The back four worked fine despite his injury, but we have been known to struggle without Moore in the heart of defence, i.e: when Fulham hammered us 5-0. Hopefully it isn`t too bad, especially with Reece Oxford and Tiago Ilori still injury, it would be a shame to have to move van den Berg back when he has been in good form since coming back into the side.

We can`t keep relying in our home form to see it over the line – Our home form has been outstanding and the main driving force in our position this year, especially with our away form being hit and miss. We`ve only won one of our last five away game and with only four home games left this season, we need to rectify this as soon as if we are going to maintain our play-off spot. Preston and Sheffield Wednesday are going to be very tough away games coming up, but we need to win at least one of them to keep Fulham off our tails.

Grabban is lacking in confidence – Our best chance of the game on Tuesday came in the first minute to Lewis Grabban with a close range header, but fluffed his lines. Admittedly it wasn`t an easy chance, but a striker in form would have fancied himself, but unfortunately the Bournemouth loanee is far from that at the moment. Grabban is yet to score in a Royals shirt and his lack of confidence is clear to see – playing on the wing isn`t exactly going to help, but he needs to show more to start over Yann. It will be interesting to see if we get to see the two of them play together before the end of the season.

A top six spot is ours to lose with ten games to play – Even the most faithful of Reading fans would have expected our season to fade away, but with ten games to play, the expectation is firmly in place that we will finish in the play-off spots. That wouldn`t have been the aim prior to August, but while we have the opportunity, it would be a real shame to throw it away now. We are in a healthy positon and six wins out of those games should be enough to see us over the line.