Pride and pressure for Royals boss

16 March 2009 15:30
Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Ipswich left Coppell at a loss to explain his team's lack of form at a crucial stage in the season, and they have now won only one of their last eight games to fall seven points adrift of the automatic promotion spots - albeit with two games in hand. "I'm joining a very limited club and am proud to be doing so," Coppell said of the landmark. "I suppose I must have done something right but whatever I was doing right, I'm not doing it at the moment. "A manager's longevity depends on results so if I don't liven up, I'm fully aware of the consequences." Reading are not alone among the leading clubs in having a wobble of late, but the Royals' has been more pronounced. Now they will hope, with a trip to the Keepmoat Stadium, they can emulate second-placed Birmingham City, who confirmed they are back in top form with a 2-0 win there on Saturday. But if Reading were to lose, they could be knocked out of third place by Burnley, who head to Portman Road to play Ipswich. While the Tractor Boys breathed life into their play-off hopes with the win at the Madejski Stadium, it is their home form that has hampered them and left them six points adrift of the top six. That will give hope to Burnley, who romped to a 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday as they showed no ill-effects from a gruelling season that has already seen them rack up 50 matches. QPR's own play-off hopes have been hampered by a recent poor run and life will get no easier for under-pressure boss Paulo Sousa when his team host Swansea at Loftus Road. The visitors can move level on points with sixth-placed Cardiff - for 24 hours at least - with a victory, but they will have to improve on Saturday's performance after going down 3-1 at home to Crystal Palace. Cardiff play Watford on Wednesday night. Palace are 10 points off the play-off places after winning at the Liberty Stadium, but can cut that gap further when Neil Warnock returns to his native South Yorkshire to take on relegation-threatened Barnsley. The Tykes dropped into the bottom three on Saturday after going down 1-0 at home to Blackpool, although Simon Davey's team has three games in hand on Nottingham Forest, who are one point above them in 21st place. Reading 11/8, Doncaster 15/8, Draw 12/5  

Source: Team_Talk