Are Reading becoming predictable? Reading fans are so used to the ups and downs of following this club it's hard to understand this continual up that seems so unstoppable. If there was ever a potential banana skin to halt the win of runs then it was the trip to bottom of the table Brighton and Hove Albion on a difficult Withdean pitch. The potential defeat simply didn't happen with Reading coming home with another 1-0 victory to extend the current run to six straight games without conceeding a goal. This was our fifth 1-0 victory out of the current run of six wins. There were the not-usual nervous moments towards the end when Brighton threatened an equaliser, but in honesty Brighton were as short of ideas as all the other teams we've played recently - who just didn't know how to break down this amazing Reading defence.

Reading started off looking to take the early lead to seal an early win and the emphasis was again on Nicky Forster playing in his usual role up front. Right from the start Forster was involved with two early chances. One needed a block from a defender and the other was saved by the keeper after one of the those famous Nicky Forster runs into the box. If anything Forster was a bit too enthusiastic when he went down in the penalty area moments later and picked up a yellow card for diving - perhaps he should have stayed on his feet and he might have been a bit more effective.

After a strong Reading start the game swung around a bit towards Brighton's favour as the home side enjoyed a bit of the ball. Hahnemann was called into action a couple of times but wasn't really tested and it was Reading that continued to look the most dangerous as they launched the odd counter attack. The Royals took the lead midway through the first half then Forster picked up a loose ball after some sloppy play from Brighton. His cross found John Salako and Salako's shot took a nice deflection off the Brighton keeper and into the back of the net. 1-0 to Reading - and it was all that was needed to take the full three points from the fixture.

The rest of the first half seemed to pass without event and the second saw Brighton get off to another slow start. They seemed short of ideas and only started to really put pressure on Reading's defence as the time they had left to equalise started running low. They had a shot just over the crossbar but really were restricted to long range efforts that were way off target. Brighton are often called a one man team and today that one man - Zamora - wasn't very effective. He's been having problems with injuries this season and it showed as he drifted in and out of the game. In the last quarter of the game he had the most of the ball but fired off a couple of shots that were well wide and over - or both. He had a good chance with a header but found the corner flag rather than the target.

Adrian Williams made a rare mistake that let Brighton in for a chance to beat Hahnemann - which of course they didn't. The Reading keeper came off best each time he was called into action and must have been loving every minute of it. The game didn't really flow in Reading's favour in the second half - but Brighton failed to produce anything with the large number of free-kicks they won inside the Reading half. They came closest to pulling level in the dying minutes with some desperate pressure - but despite a series of corners and a goalmouth scramble they didn't do enough to prevent the Reading win.