Reading show appetite to fight for second
The battle for automatic promotion from the Championship was shaken up spectacularly on Tuesday night as Norwich and Swansea were both forced to settle for points as Cardiff and Reading recorded impressive victories away to strugglers Sheffield United and Scunthorpe.
The Bluebirds were the chief initial benefactors, overtaking Norwich and south Wales rivals Swansea for second place, but it was quite possibly Reading, who suddenly find themselves just three points off the pace with the best goal difference of the quartet, whose result was the most significant.
By beating Nottingham Forest 4-3 at the City Ground on Saturday, the Royals opened a six-point safety net over seventh place, while still trailing Norwich by four points, thrusting Brian McDermott's side into an interesting position.
Would they decide that having given themselves a huge chance of making the play-offs that the best policy was to rest up and focus on preparing for the end-of-season lottery, or carry on full-throttle in pursuit of that second guaranteed spot in the Premier League at the risk of burning out by mid-May?
It appears that the second option was the one that McDermott opted for and the result was a fine 2-0 triumph at the home of a Scunthorpe team scrapping desperately for survival that had defeated runaway leaders QPR 4-1 days earlier, with Shane Long ([4.5] to be top scorer) striking once again.
It was their seventh win in a row, and they have gone 11 games without a loss, so with three of their final five at the Madejski and the last three against bottom-eight clubs, they are undoubtedly part of the scrap for second and, at [3.0] to earn promotion by any means, will attract plenty of support.
Which three sides do you fancy to go up? Offer a prediction below...
Published: 13 Apr 2011
Anonymous (April 13, 2011 3:26 PM) said:
QPR
Cardiff
Norwich