In the wake of his side’s 6-0 demolition of struggling Scunthorpe, Norwich boss Paul Lambert was full of praise for his rampant charges. “I
Reading boss Brian McDermott has refused to allow either himself or his players to get carried away with their latest triumph over Portsmouth – three points which has seen the Royals leapfrog Nottingham Forest into the final play-off position. “We knew three points would get us into the top six and we have kept a clean sheet so I am happy with that,” said McDermott. ”In the second half we didn’t play as well as we might and we didn’t see the game out as well as we would like.” McDermott remained tight-lipped over the chance that Shane Long, the in-form striker who has been recently tipped to move away from Reading, would still be plying his trade at the Madejski stadium next year: “I think he has been on fire since the start of the season and playing well but not scoring. Now he is getting the goals as well. We spoke about how good he is in the air. I could play him centre half because he won all the first headers from their corners, but I am not going to do that. I am not thinking about losing Long or any other players next season. All we can do is train tomorrow and worry about our next game against Preston on Tuesday.”