It sounds silly, but the gaffer never talks about the play-offs.

At the beginning of the season everyone knows the ultimate goal has to be promotion, so when you are sitting in the top eight with 11 or 12 games left then it would be the obvious thing to talk about.

But this boss (Steve Coppell) is different.

You'd think he might say something like 'okay boys, if we win today we can get on a roll and that could put us in the top six' but he is not like that.

He is different from other gaffers I have worked with ? he really does take things one game at a time.

In the preparation for matches, and in the dressing rooms before them, he will only talk about the match. He will talk about getting three points and what we need to do to get them, but he never goes on to say any more.

I know a lot of managers will tell the media that it is just a case of 'one game at a time' but they don't normally keep that up with the players.

At other clubs it has been different with managers talking about the promotion or the play-offs a lot, but not here.

It has rubbed off on the players a bit as well ? maybe that is why he does it.

Every so often somebody might say 'have you seen that so-and-so won again and that they are up to seventh' and then we will talk about it for a couple of minutes and then the conversation will drift off.

It is not something that is occupying our thoughts all the time, we are just getting on with our training and preparation and just doing what we have to do.

We are well aware, however, of how much of the season we have left.

There is a fixture list in the dressing room and where we have lunch after training and you can't really escape it. This is the time when things really hot up in the season and every game counts.

When I came here, it was because I thought I could get Reading into the top flight and that is what we are fighting for.

This is the business end of the season and we are all going to give our best to try and make the most of the remaining games.

But we will be without Lloyd (Owusu) for three games after this weekend because of his sending off and then, I think, there is only one game left before his loan spell ends. I think we will miss him up front because we have developed a good relationship which is benefiting the team.

* * * *

I didn't think our first-half performance against Crystal Palace last Saturday was a very good one. They really dominated possession throughout, and although they didn't create that many chances, they were in control.

We were doing a lot of chasing and I never really had the chance to make the most of the two days rest I had had in the week leading up to the game.

We talked about it at half-time and changed things around after the break. I thought we played a lot better and, in some ways, were unlucky not to go on and get the win.

The second half felt a lot better for the team and I felt a lot better playing my role. I think I played my part in the good things we were doing.

This week, like most others, we have been focusing on ourselves and doing some possession work and dealing with technique.

We will not start talking about Saturday's opponents, Stoke, until later today. We will be working on set-pieces this morning before we sit down and work on things to look out for in the opposition.

And then we have to go out there and do our job.