Jem of a goal keeps Royals in the hunt

Anthony Smith • Published 8 Oct 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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JEM Karacan is confident Reading have the depth of squad to keep them in promotion contention for the remainder of the season.

The 21-year-old midfielder grabbed a stunning equaliser in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Preston North End to leave Royals seventh in the table, just three points behind third-placed Norwich City.

It was the youngster’s first goal since April 2009 and it ended a congested week in which Brian McDermott’s side took seven points from a possible nine following earlier back-to-back home wins over Barnsley and Ipswich Town.

And Royals did it the hard way as Brian Howard was banned for all three games while Zurab Khizanishvili and Matt Mills also served one-match suspensions for Ipswich and Preston respectively.

“It was a nine point week and we wanted to go into the international break amongst the top places,” said Karacan. “The league is starting to take shape now so we want to be up there.

“We’re proving we can do that but we need to keep putting the performances in week in week out.

“Personally, I don’t care who scores as long as we get the three points. We had a disappointing defeat at Middlesbrough when we simply didn’t get out of the traps quick enough. But we’ve bounced back well from that and we’re beginning to show our true form.

“We just need to kick on now and keep this run going.”

With senior players like Ivar Ingimarsson, Chris Armstrong and Jay Tabb now back from long-term injuries, Karacan also feels Royals can only get better in the weeks to come.

“We’ve got a lot of strength in our squad,” he argued. “We’ve had injuries and suspensions but we’ve come through them well. You look at our bench now and there is real quality there.

“We’ve got some promising youngsters now and there are big things to come from these players. It is so important they take their chance when they get it, and they have been doing that.

“Simon Church came off the bench to score the winner against Ipswich last week and players like Noel Hunt and Michail Antonio have been doing well.

“Ivar Ingimarsson and Chris Armstrong have also come back from injury and I’m sure it’s going to give the gaffer the kind of headache he wants when it comes to choosing a team.”

Karacan had been desperate to boost his goal tally - his superb 20-yard volley on Saturday was his first since he scored at Blackpool two season ago and only his third in 60 appearances for the club.

“It’s about time I got a goal,” he admitted. “It was a nice strike to go in because it gives us seven points out of nine and we can be pleased about that.

“I’ve been practising a lot recently and Jobi McAnuff has been on at me about hitting the target. I kept my head down, got over the ball and thankfully it went in the top corner.”

Karacan’s all-action display at Deepdale earned him a place in the official npower Championship team of the week.

And he has now set his sights on winning a place in the senior Turkey squad having represented the country at every age group up to and including Under 21s.

Turkey boss Guus Hiddink’s backroom staff have been watching Karacan closely in recent weeks and the combative midfielder, who signed a new contract recently, said: “I was hoping to get a call, but they’ve got a tough game away to Germany so I’m sure Mr Hiddink will be going for a bit more experience.

“But hopefully I’ll be pushing for the friendly after that. I’ll be playing my heart out every week to do well for Reading and try and get a call up for that.”

** ROYALS boss Brian McDermott and winger Jimmy Kebe both narrowly missed out on landing the Championship's manager and player of the month awards for September.

QPR boss Neil Warnock and striker Jamie Mackie took the honours.**

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