OH dear – what a miserable display against Nottingham Forest we saw at the weekend.

We went 1-0 down to a Britt Assombalonga goal shortly before half-time and then almost immediately after the break, the Congolese striker doubled Forest’s lead.

Ten minutes later and Forest had made it 3-0 through winger Mustapha Carayol.

Reading have a serious problem on their hands with the haemorrhaging of goals away from home. In Reading’s last five away games we have conceded a whopping 14 goals.

This is dreadfully frightening in the run-up to the play-offs. We need just a point from our game at home to Wigan on Saturday to confirm a top-six finish. However, if on the away leg of the play-off game we concede in the manner we have recently, we will stand very little chance of making it to Wembley.

Towards the end of the Forest game at the weekend we looked like a team much-renewed with passion and determination, so I won’t be giving up hope if we concede.

However, it is a problem Jaap Stam has to address, and fast. We face lowly Burton Albion away as our last game of the regular league season which shouldn’t provide too much of a test and therefore nothing less than a clean sheet will suffice.

We can kiss goodbye to our hopes and dreams of returning to the top flight if we don’t sort out our miserable defensive performances of late. Our goal difference across the whole season is just plus one. This does not bode well going into the most watched games of the season.

Most fans are hoping the current formation of the Championship table stays as it is with Huddersfield in third, ourselves in fourth, Sheffield Wednesday in fifth and Fulham in sixth. With our record against Fulham including a woeful 5-0 away defeat, Sheffield Wednesday look like much more attractive opposition to face in the play-off semi-final.

Our record against Wednesday is a 100% win record with a 2-1 victory at home in December last year and a 2-0 win away last month. This is much more encouraging than a 1-0 success at home to Fulham in January and a 5-0 defeat with a man sent off back at the end of last year.