Huddersfield Town

A run of three straight wins came to an end at Ipswich on Saturday, but the Scottish international – who started all four games – was adamant that the team is in good form ahead of the Royal visit. 

“If someone had offered us nine points ahead of the last four games, we would have been very happy with that,” the former Dundee United man explained. 

“Playing the League leaders Burnley at home, travelling to Bolton, a Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday and a long trip down to Ipswich are all very tough games, so nine points is a good return. 

“We played well in the first-half on Saturday, but five minutes into the second-half they equalised and that was a bit of a kick in the teeth. The manner that we conceded the goals at Ipswich that was disappointing; the first was a sloppy ball from ‘Hoggy’, which is unlike him and it was another bad goal to lose at the end. We’ll learn from it and move on.”

The 27 year-old has recently been deployed in a more advanced wing-back role by Mark Robins in a 3-5-2 formation, but he admitted he is happy to play wherever he is asked.

“I’m enjoying playing football; that’s what I’m here to do. No footballer likes to sit in the stand, but now I have my chance and I’m taking it one game at a time, as the old cliché goes! I’m trying to play as well as I can each game and do well for the team.”

Reading will arrive at the John Smith’s Stadium in the Play-Off places following the team’s relegation from the Premier League last term, but Paul believes the Terriers have shown their ability against the top teams already – particularly against League leaders Burnley in their last home outing.  

“We’re confident and looking forward to Saturday, when we’re aiming for three points. Reading will be a tough game, but we’ve stepped up to the plate on several occasions this season and hopefully we can do it again.

“The first hour of our last home game against Burnley was probably the best we’ve played all season, especially given that Burnley have been doing so well. The football we played was very good; we put them on the back foot and deserved the three points. We showed what we are made of and we’ll be looking to do that again on Saturday.”

Dixon is hoping for a repeat of the tremendous atmosphere generated by Town’s home faithful against the Clarets last time out:

“We always feed off the energy of the fans; they help us massively. We’ll be looking for them to give us a boost on Saturday and help us get the three points, but we’ll try to do our bit on the pitch and give them something to cheer.”