Why Matt Taylor has gone easy on his Rotherham United squad in the build-up to the Reading match

ROTHERHAM United are hoping a light touch to their approach to tonight's clash at Reading pays dividends as they seek to extend their unbeaten Championship run to five matches.

Manager Matt Taylor has resisted the temptation to overload his players with information about this evening's opponents and didn't demand too much physically from his squad at yesterday's training session.

The match is the second fixture in a gruelling three game-week, falling between last Saturday's draw at Blackpool and next weekend's home encounter with Coventry City.

"We won't go into too much detail because you can't cover too much," said Taylor after the goalless stalemate at Bloomfield Road. "It is just about making sure those players are motivated to play their best game on Tuesday night."

The Millers trained early at their Roundwood base yesterday morning and then made the long trip to a Berkshire hotel for an overnight stay.

Reading haven't won in their last seven second-tier outings and have slipped to 18th in the table.

Rotherham are in 20th spot and have been monitoring the condition of Grant Hall after the centre-half played his first full match for more than two months against Blackpool following his recovery from two hamstring issues.

"He got his first 90 minutes under his belt for a long, long time so he will be a little bit sore going into Tuesday," Taylor said.

"We might have to restructure certain aspects of our starting group but hopefully keep the same performance levels."

Loan left-back Leo Hjelde missed the Seasiders clash with an ankle injury and Cohen Bramall, who was so impressive against the Seasiders, may deputise again this evening.

"We need players when they are not in the team to come back in and show they want to keep the shirt and Cohen has obviously done that with his performance," Taylor said.

The Millers have won one and drawn three of their last four games and are expecting a tough test at the Madejski Stadium despite the Royals' recent poor record.

"Reading will have endeavour and quality," Taylor said. "They have got some good players."