McDermott fired up for Palace

Anthony Smith • Published 17 Feb 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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READING take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park tonight knowing a victory would lift them out of the Championship relegation zone (8pm ko).

Brian MCDermott's side arrive in south London on the back of a four-match unbeaten run including three successive wins in the league.

And another three points in tonight's basement battle could see them climb as high as 18th in the table and above

Neil Warnock's cash-strapped Eagles.

Both clubs go into the clash on the backs of a couple of 2-2 draws in the FA Cup fifth round.

Royals held Championship promotion hopefuls West Brom at the Madejski Stadium while Palace's home tie against Aston Villa ended in the same result.

And McDermott said: "Our form is good at the moment. We're looking forward to going there, we've had a great cup tie at the weekend, so have Palace with their 2-2 draw and it was very similar circumstances.

"Villa scored late, as did West Brom, so we look forward to the game and we try to go there and win."

And he added: "The last few wins have been very important, and we're close to a lot of teams above us, we can see them now. We could have been adrift but now we look to a massive game.

"We're in the pack and confidence is key. We've played some good football at times but we've also had to hang in there as well, playing with 10 men in a couple of games."

Palace were recently deducted 10 points for going into administration amid rumours ex-Reading boss Steve Coppell could be going back in some capacity along with their former owner Ron Noades.

And McDermott believes the financial turmoil has brought the Selhurst Park club closer together.

"They are galvanised by happened a couple of weeks ago," he warned. "Their manager uses that as a positive, it's clever what he does, that's why he has been around a long time.

"They've got good players. The likes of Neil Danns and Darren Ambrose are good on set plays, they're strong and Neil has got the team organised."

McDermott will make at least one change up front as in-form striker Shane Long begins a four-game suspension.

Leading goalscorer Gylfi Sigurdsson has also recovered from a knee injury and should be in the squad.

Palace could welcome back Lee Hills, Kieron Cadogan and Stern John who were all cup tied for the Villa clash.

Follow the Chronicle for live updates from tonight's game.

* MAREK Matejovsky has been denied 90 minutes of comeback action after Reading reserves' fixture against Plymouth reserves was postponed this afternoon due to a waterlogged pitch at Farborough Town FC.

The Czech ace has been sidelined for six weeks with a groin strain and abdominal injury.

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