Royals lose, fail to score etc

Luckily I was unable to attend Saturday's 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest, but by all accounts we were better in the first half but didn't come out for the second, allowing Forest to gain in confidence and inevitably bag a well-taken winner. Somewhat predictably Bongo and Wolves also lost at the weekend, and the strange story of the Championship nobody wanted to win continues.

On the positive side Jay Tabb made his debut and looked decent enough. He replaced an abject Jimmy Kebe who's early season form has completely evaporated. It would be unfair to single him out though, too many players are underperforming, and the team is now in a slump that has significantly dented confidence. Perhaps two away games in succession offers the chance to play without fear and and free from the weight of home crowd expectation. With the Championship going the way it is it seems entirely possible that none of the current top three will go up automatically in May. However that said the sides below us aren't so much a chasing pack as a collection of teams vaguely shuffling in a similar direction.