Star Reading striker Jack Marriott is expected to be missing for the foreseeable future, though there is still no definite timeline on his absence.
The Royals head into Saturday’s crunch encounter against fellow play-off rivals Plymouth Argyle without their 16-goal striker.
Marriott, who was nominated for the League One Player of the Month award for February earlier this week, hasn’t featured in their last three matches.
And the news that boss Leam Richardson provided ahead of their clash with the Pilgrims this weekend wasn’t exactly positive.
This blow has come at exactly the wrong time of the season for the Berkshire outfit, who are knocking on the door of the top six places. They initially coped well without him, dramatically beating Bradford City to close the gap to the Bantams. And three more points at Luton Town came thanks to a first senior hat-trick from Marriott’s replacement, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.
However, with the chance to move into the play-off places in midweek, the Royals blew that opportunity. Gifting Mansfield Town their first win in 10 games was made more disappointing by the Stags putting everything into their FA Cup tie at Arsenal at the weekend. Fortunately for Reading, both Stevenage and Wycombe Wanderers lost too, so they remain a point adrift of the sixth-placed Terriers.
Ahead of their crunch clash this weekend, Richardson referenced how the loss of a striker earlier in his managerial career didn’t derail that campaign.
“He’s obviously been with the medical team, so we’ve had the findings that he’s had another reoccurrence of a hamstring injury, so that’s disappointing.
“In terms of the length of time we wouldn’t know, it certainly won’t be the next week or two, but hopefully things go well, we might seem towards the latter end of the season, but at the minute it’s a bit disappointing for Jack.
“When I was at Wigan we lost our striker in Charlie Wyke, similar in November I think it was, and we ended up going to win the league, so fingers crossed we can emulate that.”
Can Reading Cope?
Losing one of the most prolific strikers in League One was always likely to thwart the Royals. Although, during his absence earlier in the campaign, Reading recorded a five-match unbeaten streak, winning three of those outings. But he has undoubtedly been a huge part of their recent success, grabbing 13 goal contributions in 14 league starts since December.
That included a hat-trick against Wycombe Wanderers last month. Seeing off a determined Chairboys outfit could prove instrumental in the run-in, given they are also knocking on the door of the play-off places. Without knowing Marriott’s return date, it’s difficult to look at when would be an ideal date for the Royals to have their main man back.
With Cardiff City the visitors to the Select Car Leasing Stadium with three games to go, that would be an ideal fixture for Reading to have the 31-year-old fit and firing. If Ehibhatiomhan can deliver more goalscoring performances like his one at Kenilworth Road, then the Royals should be able to navigate this period without the former Derby County man.