The Royals’ last three games have been away from home but they’ll be back in front of their own fans on Saturday for the visit of Sheffield Wednesday.

Reading remain seven points above the drop zone but have an encouraging home record, losing four times in 13 games at the Madejski Stadium.

An inspired Adam Federici performance saw Middlesbrough held to a goalless draw last time out at the Madejski Stadium, but it has been a mixed bag on the road for the Royals, with a last-minute loss at Fulham particularly hard to take.

An FA Cup win at Cardiff restored momentum before Steve Clarke’s side earned a point in a 0–0 stalemate at Millwall on Tuesday night.

Some Reading fans were left frustrated at the side’s inability to take all three points at The Den, but Kelly believes a win on Saturday will end a good week for the Royals.

“It’s going to be another difficult game but we’re looking forward to being at home after being away for a little while,” he said. “If we can finish this week off with a win then it would’ve been a good week.

“We’ve got good players and we’re knocking the ball around well and the movement is good so if we can get all that to come together in the final third then that’ll be positive.

“Things are moving in the right direction and everyone’s on board with the manager at the moment and what he’s trying to achieve. We’re a lot more solid which is a nice starting point and we’ll go from there.

“You’ve got to stay positive. The sucker punch came against Fulham but it’s been back to basics the last two games. To come from 1-0 down against Cardiff was fantastic and showed our team spirit.

“Maybe it was a missed opportunity at Millwall but it wasn’t an easy game and we’ve still kept a clean sheet on the road and picked up a point.” Kelly replaced Chris Gunter against Cardiff and completed his first 90 minutes under Clarke against Millwall.

It is thought that Gunter will also miss the visit of Sheffield Wednesday, with Kelly again deputising at right-back.

The 31-year-old looked solid against Millwall and offered good width down the right-hand side in the opening 45, though his bursts forward were restricted in the second-half.

“When they went down to 10 men it was almost worse for us than when they had 11,” explained Kelly. “We were able to get behind them and create some chances early on but second half they had eight men behind the ball and it was difficult to break them down.

“We were able to get behind them in the first half but second half we couldn’t do that and we couldn’t get to the byline to put crosses in as easily as the first half. It was pleasing to pick up a clean sheet but it was probably an opportunity missed to get three points.”