Marcus Hahnemann is calling for a favour from an old friend as the Royals seek to avoid relegation this weekend.

Our fate rests on Portsmouth gaining a positive result against Fulham at Fratton Park, and Pompey's goalkeeper is likely to be Marcus' former understudy at Madejski Stadium, Jamie Ashdown.

Speaking in an interview that is live on Reading World now, Marcus revealed, "I will be speaking to Jamie. We had a barbeque at his place recently so the kids ran around together in his back yard which was fun.

"Hopefully he will do us a favour. We should be buying him holidays because it has come down to this now!"

The game at Fratton Park is key to Reading's survival, and Marcus admits it's disappointing that we're no longer in charge of our own destiny in the final match.

"It's a bit hard to take considering where we were a few weeks ago," he said.

"But we have to accept that, stay really positive and go up to Derby and win. Hopefully Fulham don't do the same.

"We might find ourselves winning and still going down. That is our own fault now for losing the points we lost in the last few months.

"The bottom line is that the table doesn't lie, and we have to count on Portsmouth - but it doesn't change what we need to do, we still need to go out and win the game."

The Royals' main problem in recent weeks has been goalscoring, but Marcus feels there were positive signs in last weekend's fixture with Tottenham.

"Cerny had to make some good saves. The save from Liam Rosenior was really good, he was kind of unsighted, it was deflected and those are the ones you see late.

"Marek and Bikey had good chances too, but it was just a little too late. It was encouraging but we need to score.

"We need to stick together and battle hard against Derby. People keep saying that Derby have nothing to play for, but they have pride and sometimes that is the most motivating thing to play for."

The full video interview with Marcus is live on World right now - see our free preview clip.