McAnuff: 'Play-offs out of reach.'

Anthony Smith • Published 31 Mar 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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JOBI McAnuff admits it would take a minor miracle for Reading to finish in the play-offs now as they prepare for a busy Easter weekend of fixtures.

Royals travel to Ipswich Town this Saturday (3pm) then host Coventry City two days later at the Madejski Stadium (3pm ko).

The likelihood is Brian McDermott's men will need to win both to maintain even the slimmest chance of finishing in the top-six.

And their faint hopes suffered a blow last weekend when a late Gabriel Tamas equaliser denied Royals a priceless victory over promotion certainties West Bromwich Albion in the 1-1 home draw.

That left 11th-placed Reading nine points off Leicester City in sixth, though they have two games in hand on every team above them except for leaders Newcastle United.

However, McAuff admitted: "To be fair the play-offs have always been a bit of a stretch. We've been on a great run but we need teams above us to really fold.

"It's not out of the question because it's still possibly. But it's not something we are focused on. All we can do is concentrate on winning our games and playing well and see where we end up.

"Obviously we're in a much better position than we were and I think we're safe from relegation now which is a relief.

"So we can enjoy these remaining games, enjoy them and go into the Easter weekend in good spirits. But the play-offs are too far ahead to focus on."

However, despite McAnuff's warning, he would not rule out the play-off altogether.

"We have some big matches ahead and if we're still in the mix with three or four left then you never know," he declared.

"Yet it's a long way off. We've got to concentrate on winning against Ipswich and Coventry first then see how it goes.

"Things can change quickly with so many games close together. We have three games in a week coming up and it could be a completely different story after that depending on other results.

"But until we get to that point we're happy to just plod on."

Royals looked on course to follow up their FA Cup victory over the Baggies when Gylfi Sigurdsson netted early on for his 15th of the season.

But McDermott's men could not build on their lead and Tamas snatched a point for Roberto di Matteo's visitors four minutes from time.

Even so, Royals have taken a staggering 29 points from a possible 36 and remain the Championship's in-form team.

And McAnuff stated: "Until you stop and think about things it's hard to imagine where we were just a couple of months ago.

"It's only over the last three of four games that we've really kicked on in the league.

"We were in great form before that but we were still right down the bottom. It shows how far we've come and how tough it was to pull away from danger.

"Teams like Ipswich and Watford looked like they were out of it and now they've been sucked back in. So it's nice to be looking up as opposed to down."

**** ROYALS boss Brian McDermott has been nominated for the Championship Manager of the Month Award for March.

Leading goalscorer Gylfi Sigurdsson has also been shortlisted in the Player of the Month category. ****

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