Royals keep close Tabbs on Swans and Foxes

Anthony Smith • Published 8 Apr 2010 14:00 2 Comments

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JAY Tabb insists Leicester City and Swansea City can still be caught in the play-off race as Reading aim to keep their slim hopes alive when they visit Cardiff City this Saturday (3pm ko).

Brian McDermott's men have lost just once in eight Championship games and could still gatecrash the play-off party.

Tabb played a key role in their latest success, a 3-0 home win over his former club Coventry City on Easter Monday.

Now Royals head to the Welsh capital this weekend trailing sixth-placed Leicester City by nine points, although they have two games in hand on the clubs above them.

And Tabb, pictured right, believes anything is possible for rampant Royals: "Cardiff will be looking to finish strongly and last season will be fresh in their minds when they fell apart a bit but they've probably got enough points already to guarantee play-offs," suggested the 26-year-old midfielder.

"They're not going to lose all their remaining games. We don't need to worry about them but I think maybe Leicester and Swansea are the ones we could catch. If we win our games in hand we'll be three points behind Leicester. Then all it takes is for one result to go our way on the last day and anything can happen.

"It's a very tall order but it's one we will relish. The pressure is all on the teams above because no-one expects us to make the play-offs. They're just hoping and that's what we are doing as well."

A Reading victory at the new Cardiff City Stadium would blow the play-off race wide open again, but a defeat against Dave Jones' Bluebirds would almost certainly end their top-six challenge.

"I've won at Cardiff with Coventry and it's a hard place to go," added Tabb. "If you put your work in and get a result it's a satisfying feeling.

"We've still got a chance of the play-offs. We just have to hope everyone above doesn't win all their games and that we can go on another miraculous run, take maximum points and see what happens.

"It's been a fabulous second half of the season and we've got to make sure we finish on a high, whether that's eighth, ninth or in the top six."

Tabb has been crowned Reading's Player of the Month for March by club sponsors. But he quipped: "To be honest it could have been anyone, especially Gylfi Sigurdsson."

Meanwhile, speculation surrounding Sigurdsson's future is intensifying following rumours that Wolves, Bolton, West Brom and Nottingham Forest are considering a summer swoop.

Royals do not want to sell the 20-year-old Icelandic star who has two more years to run on his contract, but they would find a lucrative offer hard to refuse.

Sigurdsson is Reading's leading goalscorer with 16 in his first season in the Championship.

He was controversially left out of McDermott's starting line-up against Sky Blues with Royals boss admitted: "I have got to look after him. He's a special player."

However, Sigurdsson could return to the side for the clash against Dave Jones' fourth-placed Cardiff as Jem Karacan picked up a dead leg in the Coventry win.

MORE than 21,500 tickets have already been sold for Reading's mouthwatering clash against Newcastle United at the Madejski Stadium next Tuesday (8pm).

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bob
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Apr 8, 15:09
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How was leaving Sigurdsson out against Coventry contoversial?

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cavershamcop
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Apr 8, 17:29
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it's one of those things - it would have been controversial had we lost. But it was great management because we won!

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