Steve Coppell says our eight-game losing run almost gave us too much of a mountain to climb as we look to stay in the Barclays Premier League.

The Royals went from Boxing Day until 1st March without a single point, and Steve admits he was hugely relieved to see us pick up victory at Middlesbrough and thereby break the horrid downward spiral.

We have now won three out of the last four, and our position is much healthier than it was a month ago.

Steve said, "That run was something you just don't legislate for. It was a kick in the nethers.

"You just don't anticipate eight league defeats on the bounce. We knew we had some tough games but you think somewhere in the equation you're going to pick up a couple of points, but we were marooned on 22 points for so long.

"I spoke with Lennie Lawrence a couple of weeks ago, he is the sage of lower half football in this division. He just said you can't afford a run like that at the beginning of the season or at the end.

"But we just about got away with it where we did. If it had gone a little bit deeper there would have been no coming back.

"Now we're in a position where we can't 100% control our future but we certainly have the lion's share of the say in where we play football next year."

A full post-match interview with Steve is live on Reading World now, as well as extended match highlights.