Coppell: ball is in our court

Reading boss Steve Coppell believes the Royals are fortunate enough to keep the ball in their court with regard to their Premiership survival for next season after a 2-1 victory over fellow strugglers Birmingham City.

"The goals were very welcome," said the Reading manager.

"The second one came at a stage when we hadn't quite lost our way but they'd changed their shape - and we had to respond to that.

"We're not very good at holding on to things, and so our mentality must be to score more goals - because we have more bite when we have the incentive to score.

"Credit to Birmingham - they had a spell for ten minutes when they were in control, and I couldn't see a way out of it. But I brought on Shane Long, and we needed that change.

"I've said all along we're capable of getting 40, and that's still the case. We have seven games left, so the ball is still in our court."