KITSON INJURY SETBACK

Kitson's original diagnosis timescale was 6-8 weeks which was from the QPR match on Saturday, 18th December.

But Reading boss Steve Coppell is facing the prospect of losing him for another month, keeping him out until March probably.

Club Physio Jon Fearn told the official website;

"Dave Kitson's knee ligament injury has not responded to treatment as we would have liked, it has not tightened as much as we would have liked and at best it will be 6-8 weeks from this point.

"It will be about 4 weeks before he starts running again and hopefully it will progress quickly from this point.

"We need to give the ligament time to tighten up, if we continue as it is at the moment it will continue to remain loose.

"We don't know exactly how long he will be out, the worst case scenario is more surgery and the best case scenario is 6 to 8 weeks from here."

But on a more positive note, Royals skipper Graeme Murty was purely "rested" for yesterday's clash with Swansea City. Murty had played in both games in 2005 but had appeared to be struggling with his fitness. But he should be fit for Saturday's game with Burnley.