Shaun Goater is looking to build on his performance against Preston last weekend and add another goal to his season's tally when Reading take on Ipswich today.

Goater had been out for more than a month after undergoing a knee operation but made a glorious return in the FA Cup tie at Deepdale, scoring after just six minutes.

Unfortunately, Reading did not come away with the victory, having to settle for a 3-3 draw in a pulsating tie.

What made Goater's contribution all the better was the fact that he had not been able to get a reserve outing under his belt. Injury to the club's top scorer Nicky Forster and the fact that newcomers Dave Kitson and Lloyd Owusu were Cup-tied meant that Goater was thrown in at the deep end.

"I was pleased to score," said Goater on Reading's official website yesterday. "I really wanted to give a strong performance physically and it provided me with a good base for me to go on from there.

"I played 90 minutes, which was more than I thought. For large periods of the game I found it hard. I expected to come off at times, but I knew when (team-mate) Bas Savage went off I'd get at least 80 minutes and in the end it was the full game."

The performance did not go unnoticed by manager Steve Coppell who said yesterday: "I was wonderfully well-pleased. To get a goal on his comeback with no reserve game or anything like that was pleasing."

Goater only managed a handful of training sessions prior to the North End clash, but, looking back, he believed it did him more good than harm.

"I had only trained four times with my team-mates before the Preston game and no matter how much running you do off the field, it's not lime playing a game," he said. "The best way was to be thrown in at the deep end like I was.

"I got on with it and I think that my previous experiences in football helped me through the match. Hopefully, I'll be picked for Saturday's game."

Forster is once again expected to miss out as he has failed to recover from a stomach problem and so Goater is being touted as starting up front alongside loan signing Owusu.

The Islander, though confident in his own ability and that of his new team-mate, believes Forster's absence will be noticed.

"He is a big asset and the threat he possesses, running in behind teams, is important to the team," he said. "Perhaps we'll have to slightly adjust but we still have other threats in the side."