Jay Tabb has hailed the Royals for having the best selection of central midfielders in the division, after Brian McDermott's men picked up their sixth league win in seven games in midweek.

The ex-Coventry man has broken back into the starting XI in his favoured central berth in recent weeks, but says he can't let his form drop due to the high calibre competition provided by his teammates.

"I enjoy playing in there, but we've got about seven or eight players who are good enough to play in that position - which is probably the best central midfield squad in the Championship really," he said.

"We've got a lot of players that are just coming back from injury and are just sitting and waiting. The two of us who are in there need to keep playing well because if we don't then two others will come in.

"We've had a couple of good results in the league, six wins out of seven, we're looking good and putting in some good performances but you're only as good as your last game so we have to make sure we put in another one on Saturday."

Tabb was involved in a key incident during the 4-1 win over the Rams on Wednesday, skilfully drawing a foul from substitute keeper Saul Deeney to earn a penalty and put County down to ten men.

Despite some claims in the Derby camp that the ball was heading out of play as Jay rounded the stopper, video evidence appears to indicate that the 26-year-old was in control as he was hauled down - something the Reading number seven was keen to assert.

"A lot of people have asked if I touched it too far, but I watched it back and there's no way that was the case. I had it totally under control and I was going quite quick so if he didn't bring me down I'm confident I could have scored or squared it for Jimmy who was waiting in the middle.

"For me it was a definite sending off and a definite penalty and it did change the game. We had about seven chances before that and arguably played better with eleven men than when we had ten so I was always confident the way we started that game that we'd go on and win it."

Had Tabb managed to skip over the flailing hand of Deeney then he would have been odds on to slide home his first goal in blue and white hoops, something which he is still keen to achieve in the near future.

"I'm due a goal for Reading, I've never scored for the first team, I've scored a few for the reserves but I'm definitely due a goal. If I keep making forward runs into the box and creating chances then I'm sure I'll stick one in then I can hopefully get a couple more."