Reading have secured third place in the Championship following a 4-2 victory away at Burton Albion on Sunday.

The Royals took the lead early on with Joseph Mendes taking advantage of a defensive mix-up from the Brewers for his third league goal of the season.

Jordan Obita put the visitors two goals clear with a superb strike from outside of the penalty area that cannoned in off the inside of the back post.

The visitors seemed to have killed the game off when Yann Kermogant made it 3-0, finishing off a well worked counter attack in the 64th minute.

However, Burton fought back to score twice in the space of three minutes. Ben Turner scored from close range and Cauley Woodrow also netted with a bullet header.

The late Burton fightback was bought to an end by substitute Lewis Grabban’s strike six minutes from time.

The victory for Jaap Stam’s side secures them third spot in the Championship table, meaning that they will face Fulham in the play-off semi-finals. The first leg will take place on Saturday the 13th of May and the second will leg is on Tuesday the 16th of May.

In Reading’s preparations for the play-offs, Shoot! looks at THREE things Jaap Stam’s side must do in preparation for their clash with Fulham on Saturday…

Improve away form

Stam’s side finished the Championship season sixth in the away results table, and all three of their play-off rivals have better away records than the Royals this season.

This hasn’t been aided by their defensive record on the road – only bottom placed Rotherham United (64) have conceded more away league goals than Reading this season (48).

Stam’s men will have to gain some form of positive result when they travel to Craven Cottage, and hope that whatever happens during the match at the Madejski Stadium will be enough to send them to the final against either Sheffield Wednesday or Huddersfield Town at Wembley.

Play Mendes & Kermorgant

Reading’s top goal-scorer Yann Kermorgant netted once again during the six-goal thriller against Burton on Sunday.

Joseph Mendes got the opener in only his second league start this season, his other start came against Aston Villa in a 3-1 win last month where Mendes scored twice.

Mendes looked very lively for the 66 minutes that he played and showed early on just what he is capable of.

The partnership of the two looks very promising and they could be the combination to help Reading return to the Premier League.

Sure up at the back

As well as having the second worst away record in the league this season, they have the third worst defensive record of any side in the top half of the league table.

A key to this is keeping Paul McShane fit, as he was unable to last 90 minutes against the Brewers.

They need to find the right defensive formula to prevent free-scoring Fulham from knocking them out of the play-offs.

Even if it involves a ‘park the bus’ mentality at Craven Cottage, their current defensive line will struggle against the likes of Chris Martin and Tom Cairney unless it is sorted by Saturday.