Reading

Reading winger Paddy Lane says the squad are all "buying into" the current project under manager Leam Richardson following a four game unbeaten run in League One.

On Saturday the Royals moved up to sixth in the table with four wins, three draws and two defeats this campaign.

Their past four matches have seen them win two and draw two, jumping up into the division's play-off places.

Lane scored in a 5-1 win away at MK Dons, rushing into the box to get onto the end of an Udoka Godwin-Malife cross and tapping the ball home.

"The staff and the gaffer have been on at the wide and forward players to get into the box and attack it with pace," he told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"I've got my goal and I'm so happy with my performances recently but there's still a lot to work on and I'm aware of that.

"We work so hard and the work we do day in and day out you can see on the weekend, to be able to put on performances like that are because we're all buying into it."

Saturday's strike was Lane's first league goal of the season having also registered an assist in his first nine appearances.

The 25-year-old joined the Royals from Portsmouth in the summer of 2025 and has gone on to make 51 appearances with eight goal contributions.

He has been Richardson's main choice on the left this season, starting in their past seven league games.

"I put my form down to enjoying myself," he added.

"When I've got a smile on my face that's the best thing and I love being at the club and around the lads.

"For me the changing room is so important to having a good team and I love to drive (the energy) in there.

"The win was nice (Saturday) but we all have so much more to come and that's a good thing."

Reading next host Chelsea's U21s on Tuesday in the EFL Trophy before a trip to Wigan on Saturday.

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Reading captain Lewis Wing has said that despite an encouraging start to the League One season he has been left disappointed they have not taken more points.

The Royals have won three of their first seven matches this campaign and sit ninth in the table, one point outside the play-offs and four below leaders Bradford City who they welcome to the SCL Stadium on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Leam Richardson and members of his playing squad have not been afraid to share that their goal is to achieve promotion this season.

But if the club are to become a Championship side next campaign, Wing believes that they need to improve on their results and performances so far.

"It has been a good start but we're disappointed," he told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"I think if you look at all the games we've had this season I think we could won all of them.

"At the Luton game we should never have got beat, Cambridge shouldn't have got beat and against Wycombe we shouldn't have lost.

"So if you look at it we should we should be unbeaten really but, yeah, it is a positive start but it could be a lot better."

On Saturday, Reading drew 2-2 with rivals Wycombe Wanderers, conceding a 90th-minute equaliser after Jacob Brown's 80th-minute goal.

Their two defeats this season have come by just one goal margins, losing 4-3 to Luton Town and 2-1 to Cambridge United in mid-September.

"As a team have got to learn to not sit back and we've got to push for the second goal and kill teams off," Wing added.

"The minute they get a chance in a sniff they're right back in it, there's a lot of things to work on but we're all disappointed in that."

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Reading have confirmed their League One fixtures against Wycombe Wanderers and Bradford City will go ahead despite three Royals players receiving international call-ups.

Midfielders Andy Rinomhota and Charlie Savage plus defender Jeriel Dorsett will be absent over the extended international break.

EFL rules state clubs are eligible to request the postponement of a league fixture if they have three or more players called up for international duty.

Five of the nine League One fixtures this Saturday have already been postponed along with seven of 11 on the following Saturday, however Royals boss Leam Richardson has opted not to postpone the Wycombe game.

Reading also state, external "as things stand, our fixture against Bradford City a week on Saturday will go ahead as scheduled".

Rinomhota, who has started all six of Reading's League One games this term, will join up with Zimbabwe as they face Sierra Leonne and DR Congo in African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Savage, 23, who has made six appearances off the bench in the league, has been recalled by Wales after making his senior debut against Gibraltar in October 2023.

Craig Bellamy's side face Portugal, Denmark twice and Norway in Uefa Nations League fixtures.

Dorsett, who has made two league starts, has been selected by Montserrat who play four fixtures, twice against the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands.

"Football is a squad game and we have confidence in the players available to us, while keeping the fixture in place also helps us avoid adding another game to an already busy schedule," Richardson said.

"It's better for the supporters too. Saturday afternoon is the ideal time to play football whenever circumstances allow, so we were pleased to keep this one in place."

It's been a bad week for officials. Hot on the heels of the VAR fiasco in the Manchester derby, the match officials mysteriously ruled out a perfectly good equaliser for Reading against Brentford in the Carabao Cup third round.

There was also a clear handball penalty shout turned down later in the game, but nobody is talking about that because the disallowed goal was so outrageous.

Referee Tom Nield, with a bit of help from his assistant, decided Paudie O'Connor's acrobatic goal should not stand, because his boot flew too high.

The officials' only possible justification was they were momentarily stunned by the big central defender suddenly morphing into Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

"It was in the top three worst decisions I've seen," said an understandably disgruntled Royals boss Leam Richardson.

"It was one of the worst decisions I've seen in my whole life," said irritated midfielder Charlie Savage. The rest of us could only nod and agree.

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Reading fans left the SCL Stadium upset with the officials after the 2-1 defeat on Tuesday evening, but they're likely to be upset before they even arrive for the game against Notts County on Saturday.

Officials from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) have decided it will be a good weekend to replace a pylon, and will close junction 11 of the M4, right next to the stadium.

The knock-on for both Reading and Notts County fans trying to get to the ground, along with those trying to get to the race meeting at Newbury and the Newbury show a couple of junctions west, is likely to be severe.

On the pitch, despite losing last Saturday in the league at Cambridge, and then to Brentford, the players ought to be confident.

Giving a fright to a Premier League team, who resorted to bringing on Igor Thiago of Brazil to try to seal the game, was impressive.

There appears to be competition for places across the pitch in the Reading camp, which just has not been the case for the past couple of seasons.

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Reading head coach Leam Richardson says his team will "attack the game" when they play Brentford in the Carabao Cup..

The Royals host the Premier League side in the third round having previously seen off Bromley and Stevenage.

"Everybody's itching to play which is important," Richardson told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"We certainly will attack the game to try and win it so I think we'll dust ourselves down after the Cambridge loss and we will come back better for it.

"We know what challenge is coming and we'll have to be at our best to compete but hopefully we can keep giving the level of performance that the lads have been giving and we can grow from there."

Reading come into Tuesday's game off the back of a narrow loss away at Cambridge and have only won twice in League One this season.

They are14th in the third tier, while Keith Andrews' Brentford are yet to lose this season and thumped Birmingham 6-1 at St Andrew's in round two of the cup.

Brentford have spent the past five seasons in the Premier League having spent most of their history outside of the top flight.

Richardson is hoping that Reading can take inspiration from the Bees' rise through the leagues and mount a promotion charge of their own.

"As an organisation and as a business what they've done over the last few years has been extraordinary," Richardson added.

"They've built themselves into a stable and consistent Premier League club which is something that we want to strive for.

"If we can take little bits from the likes of Brentfords and Brightons then we'll be in a good place."