Sky Sports pundit dishes out rare praise for Reading FC after Paul Ince oversees turnaround

Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has dished out some rare praise to Reading FC following their win over Blackburn on Saturday.

Royals fans often feel pretty hard done by whenever pundits or so-called experts speak about the club, with those at Sky often getting a fair bit of flack.

However, Goodman says he has been extremely impressed by Paul Ince’s side in recent weeks as they keep themselves above the Championship relegation zone.

READ MORE: Paul Ince gives verdict on Championship relegation battle as safety is in sight for Reading FC

Saturday’s 1-0 win over high-flying Blackburn Rovers, coupled with a defeat for Barnsley, sees Reading have a five-point buffer above the bottom three with just eight games left in the season.

The two face each other when the league schedule resumes after the international break at the start of April and it is a game that could end the relegation battle if Royals secure all three points.

Goodman says Ince’s side have put themselves in a great position to stay up, though, and has explained what has caught his eye the most about them over the past month.

“The next game is massive away at Barnsley,” he told the Sky Sports EFL podcast. “It is a huge, huge game. Their (Reading’s) timing over the past few weeks has just been perfect.

“Just when you think Derby are closing in, they go and win back-to-back games and now they’re eight points ahead of them. And just when you think Barnsley are closing in, they go and beat Blackburn.

“They’ve got a five point cushion now going into what is essentially a cup final.

“I don’t think you can have any doubt a positive impact has been made by Paul Ince – he has won three out of the past seven and that’s really timely because they hadn’t won in the Championship in the previous 11 so they got their timing right and got the wins just in the nick of time.”

BerkshireLive will have full, live coverage of the Barnsley v Reading game in south Yorkshire. Kick-off is at 3pm on Saturday, April 2.

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