In his weekly email address Golden Boys manager, Aidy Boothroyd reveals his pleasure at keeping a clean sheet at Reading and looks ahead to Southampton on Monday night.
I'd like to start by saying how satisfied I was with the way things went at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday. Considering they are champions elect and have been playing together as a unit for three years, I think we stood up to them well.
Looking at the two sides, there are lots of similarities between us and them and our aim is to evolve into a team like they have already done. We're still in the process of evolving and we want to become a really strong unit, just like Reading.
I think it's fair to say that they are currently at the peak of a cycle, while we're still near the beginning of ours, with plenty of growth and improvement to come.
It was a massive step forward to keep a clean sheet there. No one else has managed to shut them out at the Madejski this season and it was our 11th of the campaign. Bearing in mind the attacking way in which we play, to get into double figures is a big achievement.
Both physically and mentally, the players' work off the ball was outstanding on Saturday. For example, Ashley Young and Chris Eagles are normally known for the attacking flair they give us but they both put in a phenomenal performance when we didn't have possession.
Before getting too carried away, however, it was only a 0-0 draw so going to Southampton on Monday and taking all three points is what's important now.
They will be a very different team from the one we beat on Boxing Day. That was George Burley‘s first game in charge so I'm sure that he's looking at this game as a benchmark of how far they've come in the last three months.
It was great to see that more than 2,000 of you had made the trip to Reading last week and the support was much appreciated by myself and the players. We're counting on more of the same from now all the way to the end of the season.
Reproduced with thanks to the official site, watfordfc.com