Boss Steve Coppell was thankful to his new goalscoring hero this afternoon, after Andre Bikey's headed double had handed his side all three points in a vital game at home to Birmingham City.

"It's a delight for anybody to score the goals, but Bikey celebrates in his own particular style...which is with a flourish!" Coppell smiled.

"It was very welcome, obviously. The second goal came at a stage when they had changed their shape and made life more difficult for us.

"We had to respond to that and we did. The second goal was just very pleasant to see."

Reading led at the interval but the Royals manager explained how keen he was to see his side come out and look for a second goal as quickly as possible.

"We don't sit in very well, we're not very good at holding onto things, so our mentality had to be to try to score more goals. We certainly have more edge and bite about us when we have the incentive to score.

"And credit to Birmingham; they gave us more problems and had a spell of 10 or 15 minutes where they were controlling possession - I couldn't see a way out of it.

"They scored and still looked a little bit stronger than us at that stage, so I needed to change things and I think the change evened things up again.

"Longy was our impact player again. He came on and did a terrific job, winning the free kick for the goal.

"I thought we were going to get punished for not converting our chances, and I thought we had more than enough of those to have won the game, but thankfully the second was a delight for us."

The win edges Reading three points closer to the golden mark of 40, a target that Coppell has set from the start.

"It doesn't matter how or when you go about getting the points, you've just got to get a certain number to be safe.

"I've said all along I believe we're capable of getting 40 points and I still think we are. We have seven games left and the ball is in very much our court.

"It doesn't matter what anyone else does, if we get 40 points we don't have to worry about a thing. It's down to us to achieve what I think we are capable of."

The three points today felt more like six, in that Reading prevented Birmingham - a relegation rival - from getting anything to aid their own struggle.

"If you get three, then they haven't - and you have that bit of daylight in between.

"But there's still going to be a few twists and turns - who could have guessed some of the results today?

"At this stage of the season there are some real 'must win' results. All the leagues in times gone by are littered with examples of teams who have needed to win games, and have won games. That will still influence the complexion of the division."

And asked if all this drama at the bottom was getting to him, if the dogfight was putting him off management at all, Coppell replied, "No, it comes with the territory.

"We've had two magnificent years and if we maintain our status - I think that's a bigger achievement than Liverpool finishing fourth say, or Chelsea finishing third.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger....I can't believe I said that!"