Reading Chronicle
Wednesday, 3rd November, 2010
Howard hoping for hoops derby upsetREADING midfielder Brian Howard believes all the pressure will be on Queens Park Rangers in Saturday’s hoops derby at Loftus Road (3pm ko).
Royals sealed a dramatic 4-3 comeback victory over Doncaster Rovers at the Madejski Stadium on the weekend to move up to sixth in the Championship.
At the same time, Rangers were knocked off the top of the table following a 1-1 home draw to Burnley who had been hammered 4-0 by Reading at Turf Moor the previous week.
As a result, Neil Warnock’s side have not won in four league games now, and Howard believes there will be enormous expectations on them to end that run this weekend and reclaim top spot from Cardiff City.
“It’s going to be a massive test for us,” said the 26-year-old. “QPR don’t concede many goals at home and it will be tough for us to get goals there.
Up for it: Brian Howard, pictured here in the background, celebrates with Matt Mills during Reading's 4-3 win against Doncaster Rovers. Royals travel to QPR this weekend.
“But we will go there in confidence. I don’t think QPR have won in four games so they’ll be under pressure.
“They will be the favourites on the day, so we can go there with nothing to lose and express ourselves. Hopefully, we’ll come away with a win.”
There were fears Reading may fall away in the promotion race over recent weeks when it looked like the goals had dried up after back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Brendan Rodgers’ Swansea City and Bristol City.
But Brian McDermott’s men answered their critics by plundering eight goals in the next two games to secure victories against Burnley and now Doncaster.
They now face a big month ahead which starts with battles against three of the top five sides in the division with Cardiff City and Norwich City to follow this weekend’s QPR clash.
“It’s a massive month but we can only look at it one game at a time,” added Howard. “It’s a cliche but it’s the only way we can look at it.
“A couple of games ago we’d lost two in a row and it was all doom and gloom. People were saying we need a striker, we can’t score goals, we need this, we need that.
“Then we go and score eight goals in the next two games and suddenly we’re going to win the league.
“You really do have to just look at the next game. The aim is to be in the top six at the end of the season at the very least and we are on course.”
And he added: “As long as we’re in the mix around Christmas and January time I really feel, given the fitness of the lads, we can kick on like we did towards the end of last season and push for something.
“There’s a good squad here and we’re confident we can achieve something this season.
“We’re not going to shout from the heavens and claim we will do this and do that, we’ll just take each game as it comes.”
www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport/roundup/articles/2010/11/03/49135-howard-hoping-for-hoops-derby-upset/