READING FC midfielder John Swift has hit sights firmly set on topping his goalscoring tally for last season.

The England Under 21 international netted his sixth goal of an impressive campaign in Saturday's 2-1 win against Cardiff City when he converted from an outrageous Garath McCleary backheel.

That leaves Swift one goal behind the seven he scored for Brentford last season when he was on loan from Chelsea.

And after joining Royals permanently in the summer, Swift will be hoping to add to his tally tonight when Jaap Stam's men take on Birmingham City at St Andrew's (7.45pm ko).

"It was a good ball from Garath and it was good to get on the score sheet, especially after I missed a penalty against Fulham," declared Swift.

"I want to beat what I got last season, so I want to keep getting on the score sheet, but the main thing is getting three points.

"Scoring more goals was one of my personal targets. As an attacking player I want to score and create, but the team comes first."

Last weekend's 2-1 triumph against Neil Warnock's Cardiff was Reading's seventh win in their last eight home games, sending them back up to third in the table.

Swift was the heartbeat of many of Reading's attacking moves, but he admitted the state of the pitch at Madejski Stadium did not help his cause.

"It's hard to adapt to play on a bad pitch," he continued.

"We train on a good pitch and then we have to play on that [Madejski Stadium].

"If we play the football we normally play the pitch will make it harder, but that shouldn't change the way we play.

"It's difficult, but we have to just get on with it."

Stam is likely to tinker with his side for tonight's clash at 12th-placed Birmingham City.

Tiago Ilori has been ruled out for around six weeks with ankle ligament damage, while Joey van den Berg is nursing a hamstring injury.

Deniss Rakels (ankle) and Stephen Quinn (knee) and Callum Harriott (hamstring) are also sidelined.

However, Jordan Obita comes back into contention after serving a one-match ban, while new signing Adrian Popa could make his Reading debut after joining from Steaua Bucharest for around £500,000 yesterday.

Royals drew 0-0 with Birmingham City at Madejski Stadium back in September.