I've said it before previous games this month, but we were on fire going into this one. The international break hadn't dropped our standards, with an impressive 3-0 victory at Luton in the previous week. This time, we made a midweek trip to the Madejski Stadium, to play a Reading side sat 14th.

We started the game brightly, with a long through ball from Barry Douglas finding Pablo Hernandez, who put his effort straight at Reading keeper Rafael.

After just five minutes, Helder Costa, back in the side after a previous lack of form, put us ahead. It was an impressive goal too, as he broke from the halfway line, skinning Reading's defenders and cutting through them like a knife through hot butter, before tucking it into the bottom corner with his left foot. It was a sensational solo goal and a great way to return to form.

Reading were probably the better side in the first half though, they looked after the ball and pressed us a lot more effectively than most teams we'd come up against so far. As a result, they had the bulk of the chances before the interval.

George Puscas was hurried into a shot by Liam Cooper and ultimately fired well wide; Jordan Obita floated a cross over, which was volleyed at the far post by an unmarked Chris Gunter, whose effort was well saved; they had a break through the middle, requiring some fantastic last ditch defending from Liam Cooper to block an effort from Lucas Joao, whilst Puscas saw his free kick from 25 yards well saved.

At the other end, we only really had one other decent chance in the first half, as Douglas threatened to hit the top corner from a 30-yard free kick, which was tipped over by an outstretched Rafael.

Reading continued to create chances in the second half, Ben Marshall was denied by a determined block from Kalvin Phillips after we failed to clear a corner; Puscas headed a Joao cross off the near post whilst Marshall's free kick from the left was headed narrowly wide by Joao. At the other end we had just the one decent chance, with Costa breaking down the left before squaring to Bamford, whose effort was on target but deflected behind by Liam Moore.

We killed the game off with just under ten minutes to go. Adam Forshaw played a crossfield ball to Mehdi Zeffane, who made it to the byline before cutting it back to Costa, arriving at the far post to tuck home his second of the night.

That finally seemed to kill Reading off and we managed to create a couople more chances of our own towards the end. Eddie Nketiah played a crossfield ball which was flicked on by Bamford to Costa, who should've sealed his hat-trick one-on-one. Meanwhile, Bamford popped up at the near post to head a Douglas cross at the keeper.

It was a struggle, but it was ultimately a reward for being clinical. Reading had a hatful of chances as we had an off night at the back, but we eventually punished them for not putting any of them away. Definitely one of our more difficult battles of the season.

It's not an exaggeration to say we were in red hot form going into this game. Twelve unbeaten, five wins on the trot and now, having moved into 2nd during the week, we had a chance to stretch the gap to five points. It was the Saturday evening kickoff, everyone below us dropped points and now all eyes were on Elland Road as we welcomed 9th placed Middlesbrough, going well under ex-Leeds defender Jonathan Woodgate.

The first quarter of the game or so was evenly matched, with both sides conjuring up decent chances. Britt Assombalonga came close a couple of times, first skinning three players before hitting the side netting and then hitting us on the break before winning a corner off Kiko Casilla.

At the other end, Helder Costa broke down the left hand side, before sliding a ball into Patrick Bamford, who hit his shot at the keeper before Bamford then headed agonisingly wide after a good cross from Gjanni Alioski.

It was the visitors who opened the scoring, with Assombalonga being rewarded for his persistence in front of goal. George Friend caught the defence napping with a through ball down the left, leaving Assombalonga one-on-one with Casilla. A striker of his quality was always going to score from there eventually.

We reacted well, but the quality of our finishing left a lot to be desired for a while. First, Costa skinned two defenders before ultimately missing the target by some distance; then Luke Ayling crossed to Costa who headed over from two yards out and Bamford fired straight at the keeper from a similar distance after everyone else had been caught out by a Kalvin Phillips corner. It was beginning to look like we were going to have one of those days.

On the stroke of half time, we finally pulled level. Not for the first time this month, it was a move started and finished by Klich. He won the ball high up the pitch with an interception, carried the ball into the box before being dragged to the floor by Ryan Shotton. Klich stepped up confidently and smashed it into the bottom left corner.

We squeezed another decent effort in before the break, when Costa's effort, seemingly destined for the top corner, was tipped over by Darren Randolph.

In the second half, we really began to show our knack for creating chances. Alioski moved to pick up Randolph's goal kick just behind the halfway line and with his second touch, played a defence-splitting pass to Klich, who won a corner off Randolph. Klich won another corner off the keeper not long after, this time being sent in on goal by Luke Ayling. Pablo Hernandez got up to Phillips' corner at the near post, heading over the bar. Liam Cooper picked up on a corner which Boro failed to clear, crossing to an unmarked Eddie Nketiah who smashed a volley at the post, with Randolph rooted to the spot. Boro did have a decent opportunity when Adam Clayton carved open the defence with a through ball to Lewis Wing, who fired well over.

We made our dominance count with just over fifteen minutes to go and it was that man again, Klich. Nketiah did well to recover from a poor first touch when initially through the ball and was able to hold it up until the troops arrived. From there, we played a neat passing game just outside the Boro box before the ball eventually came out to Alioski. His cross met the head of Shotton, but it fell straight to Klich who met it first time with a volley to make it 2-1.

In the closing stages, each side had a decent chance. Shotton squared it to Assombalonga from the byline, whose effort was saved by Casilla at point blank range. At the other end, Jack Harrison shook loose of Shotton before firing a low drive at Randolph.

It was a deserved win as we did dominate most of the game. Middlesbrough's goal was the kick up the arse we needed and in the end, I don't think anyone could've complained about the result.