Steve Clarke has urged his Reading players to "take advantage" of their Thursday night match at home to Queens Park Rangers.
The Royals have a chance to climb into the playoff zone this evening, requiring just a draw to pull level on points and goal difference with Birmingham City in sixth place.
Clarke believes that playing two days prior to many of his side's promotion rivals gives Reading a real chance to pile on some pressure, but is expecting to come up against a resilient QPR outfit at the Madejski Stadium.
"If you play first, you have to try and take advantage and get some points on the board so that come the weekend, there is just a little bit more pressure on the teams that are around us, so they have to get the points as well," he is quoted as saying by The Reading Chronicle.
"It's the start of December and there are lots of games to go. All we're looking for is to get back to winning ways and to what we did well earlier this season. About eight weeks ago people were saying what a fantastic team we were and things were going in the right direction, so we have to get back to that.
"But Neil [Warnock] has gone in there and tightened things up. They had a good result at the weekend and they'll come here with a bit of confidence. It's important that we approach the game in the same manner. For us it's to get back to the basics and do what we do well - if we do that, I think we're good enough to get a result."
Three of the last four meetings between Reading and QPR have finished as a draw, but the Berkshire club won the most recent encounter 3-1 in February.
Daniel Lewis
