Following excellent performances against Watford and Chelsea, Reading manager Steve Coppell opted for the same starting formation and line-up as before and once again it paid off as Reading took the full three points from a very difficult fixture at the JJB stadium. The formation relies on Nicky Forster finding the net up front and today he created plenty of opportunities for himself and stuck away two excellent individual second half goals to give Reading the win. With yet another excellent defensive performance from Hahnemann and the back four it was a real case of doing the job today as Wigan had the majority of the play, especially in the second half, but failed to break through. Tactically this was another major success for Coppell who takes Reading up to fifth in the table and makes it eight wins from just thirteen games in charge.

The obvious hero of the day was of course Forster who banged in two top of the range goals in the second half to grab the win - and he showed himself to a threat within the opening two minutes with the first chance of the game. Moments after collecting the first statistic of the game by being caught offside he latched onto the ball inside the area on the right and hit a shot that came back out off the post. Just a couple of minutes later and Foster nearly found the target with a shot from the left that was pushed round the post by the Wigan goalkeeper. Throughout the game Reading relied solely on Forster to do the damage up front with little support and he perhaps should have put Reading ahead before the break after two decent efforts where we failed to find the target after breaking through. Having gone seven games without a goal perhaps Forster was a little too keen early on to shoot when he could have got in closer - but he was to more than make up for these wasted opportunities later in the game.

The confusing Bas Savage was having a very involved game early on as well after getting tangled up with the referee and a series of Wigan players as he looked to put his mark on the game. He eventually picked up a yellow card after bringing a Wigan player down and went in the book for dissent. Only shortly after that he dished out another clusmy challenge to conceed another foul and Steve Coppell was left with no choice but to bring Savage off after just 37 minutes to prevent Reading having to play the entire second half with just ten men. His replacement, Scott Murray, came on and failed to really shine as Wigan stepped up the pace of their game.

Reading failed to make the most of a whole series of corners that caused little danger and were easily cleared but we still looked the more likely side at the break after Wigan were restricted to just a couple of chances in the first half. Reading looked comfortable in defence and Hahnemann only had to make one good save of note with Wigan's other chances going high and wide. After half time Wigan stepped up their involvement and enjoyed the most of the ball as they began to look much more dangerous. Shortly after the break Wigan put in a good shot just inches wide and it was followed up by another Hahnemann save as they cut through the defence for a clear shot on goal.

With Wigan on the attack and enjoying a solid spell of pressure the first Reading goal came against the run of play. The ball was cleared by the defence and Forster found himself just inside the Wigan half having kept onside. Forster picked up the ball and was off, twisting past a defender and then out-pacing another as he sprinted towards goal. WIth the keeper coming out Forster finished with style for a wonderful individual goal to put Reading on their way. With Reading in the lead and playing away from home there seemed a further shift of tactics to defend and hang onto the lead - something we accomplished very well. Wigan had a couple of decent efforts shooting just over the Reading crossbar and just wide of the post but otherwise struggled to make their possession count. With time running out Forster popped up again to make the most of a break after a Wigan attack taking the ball wide of the keeper and firing in a low shot from the left into the back of the net. 2-0 to the Royals, two Forster wonder goals, and the game was won.