Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:22 pm
Royals boss Brian McDermott says he, the players and staff are boosted by the prospect of a good atmosphere for this weekend's game at home to Cardiff City.
With 3,600 coming from South Wales, the crowd will be close to 20,000, and Brian says his squad love the thought of playing in front of a boisterous atmosphere.
He said, "After the Birmingham crowd it looks like another good one again, which is great for us and the fans are coming out to watch us.
"It's really good news for the players, myself and the staff, you know there's always a decent atmosphere when Cardiff come to town.
"The international break was good for us, the good result against Birmingham made a difference and now this is another game for us to look forward to."
We take on Cardiff for the first time since knocking them out of the play-offs last season, and Brian remembers the 3-0 win in Wales vividly, but does not believe it will have an impact on this weekend's proceedings.
He said, "I remember going there, getting a fantastic result and playing really well, but that will not be relevant, it's different teams, different personnel and also a different manager for Cardiff in Malky Mackay.
"Their fans will come in force, their supporters will be vocal, so will ours, with a good crowd we can't wait to get going."
At the back, Reading are in good defensive shape, with the second best defensive record away from home and the fifth best overall.
A key part of that defensive unit in recent weeks is Joseph Mills, and Brian told BBC Radio Berkshire, "He's a player who wasn't getting an opportunity at Southampton, and since he's come into the side results have been good.
"He's a young full back making his way in the game, he loves playing for Reading, his brother said a lot of good thing about the club. He was man of the match last time out, we just want him to grow and build.
"You've seen that with Shaun Cummings on the other flank, how he's grown, and we're trying to work with Joseph in the same way."
The Royals have only scored once in the first half of games this season when Simon Church notched against Coventry, a stat that Brian is keen to see come to an end.
He said, "It's definitely relevant to look at it, but what's gone on in the 16 games we can't change. We need to score in the first half, it's simple as that. It's quite incredible really to have hardly scored in the first half, we want to put it to bed.
"We've started games well, you can't account for it, I've got no magic answer on that one and the stats speak for themselves. I'm definitely not saying to the players 'don't score in the first half!'"