McDermott up for February gong

Anthony Smith • Published 4 Mar 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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ROYALS boss Brian McDermott is in the running for February's official Coca-Cola Championship manager of the month award.

It is a superb achievement for the 48-year-old in his first full month as permanent manager.

He has completely reversed Reading's fortunes and steered the team away from the relegation zone with four wins in five league games with victories against Doncaster Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday.

And to top it off McDermott's men also navigated their way into the FA Cup quarter finals in the club's best run in the competition for 83 years.

Royals now face Aston Villa at the Madejski Stadium this Sunday (1.45pm ko) with a place in the semi finals at Wembley up for grabs.

McDermott is on a four-man shortlist along with Coventry's Chris Coleman, Leicester Nigel Pearson and Swansea's Paulo Souza.

The winner will be announced this weekend on Sky's Soccer Saturday programme.

Royals striker Simon Church is also in the running for a gong after making the shortlist for February's Championship Player of the Month.

The 21-year-old - who played in Wales' 1-0 defeat by Sweden in Swansea last night (Wednesday) - netted four times in the month, including a superb brace in a crucial 3-1 victory at Selhurst Park.

He was also superb in the 3-2 FA Cup replay victory at West Bromwich Albion with a hand in two of the goals.

Newcastle's Andy Carroll, Leicester's Paul Gallagher and Swansea keeper Dorus De Vries have also been nominated, with the winner set to be announced on Sky's Soccer AM this Saturday.

Meanwhile, Jay Tabb fears he may miss out on an FA Cup quarter-final appearance despite starring in the 5-0 drubbing of Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.

The versatile Royal has returned to the starting line-up in central midfield as Jem Karacan is recovering from an operation and Brynjar Gunnarsson has been sidelined with a knee problem.

But with Gunnarsson now fit for Sunday's clash, Tabb admitted: "It's nice to be back in. Sometimes you have to be patient and wait your turn.

"It's a shame Bryn and Jem have injuries but Bryn has a great chance of being fit Sunday.

"I'll be disappointed if I don't play seeing as I started in the 5-0 win last weekend.

"But players like Bryn and Brian Howard have done very well in midfield and the manager has some tough decisions to make.

"Hopefully I'll play but if I don't I'll be cheering the lads on."

Royals face a tough task to get past Aston Villa, with a semi-final at Wembley awaiting the winners.

"We're definitely underdogs but I think it's a great tie for us," argued Tabb, 25.

"Villa are challenging for a top-four finish in the Premier League so it's going to be very tough.

"But anything can happen in the FA Cup and we have 90 minutes for the chance to play at Wembley.

"The cup has been the turning point of our season.

"Before we beat Liverpool we hadn't won many league games.

"But that one good performance changed players' confidence and now we're hard to beat."

Meanwhile, Gylfi Sigurdsson must pass a fitness test on his ankle if he is to continue his amazing record of scoring in every round.

Andy Griffin has also strained his hamstring and the on-loan Stoke right-back will be assessed before the game.

McDermott will be unable to call upon the creative skills of Jobi McAnuff who serves the second of his three game ban

His suspension ends after Reading's Championship home game against Derby County at Madejski Stadium next Wednesday night (8pm ko).

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