Barnsley 0 Reading 4: Hill calls for a show of bravery as Reds sink into relegation battle

He said: “I believe that we are in a relegation fight because the confidence is low.

“When you lose two early goals in the second half the players’ confidence goes.

“At the moment, we are in poor form. In fact, we are in relegation form.

“We’ve got to show bravery and I expect my players to show bravery. The players have never been in a fight before and I’ve got to get them up for it because I have and I don’t like fighting. But I believe they will be better for the experience.

“I thought that in the first half we were more than competitive and we came up against a good side. I think Reading are the most effective side that we have played.”

Reading chief Brian McDermott is not interested in what other teams do after watching his side stretch their unbeaten run to 10 matches and maintain second position in the table.

Jem Karacan scored twice, Jobi McAnuff and Jason Roberts got the other two as Reading took Barnsley apart.

They took the lead two minutes into the second half when Jimmy Kebe got behind the defence on the right and his cross found Karacan.

Two minutes later, they made it two when Barnsley failed to clear and the ball fell to McAnuff, who scored from close range.

Karacan made it three when he thundered in a shot from 30 yards and Roberts wrapped the scoring up in the last minute of normal time when he latched on to a loose ball and blasted home from just inside the area.

McDermott said: “To come to a tough place like this and win 4-0, I can’t ask any more of my players.”

Barnsley: Steele, Wiseman (Stones 52), Foster, McNulty, Collins, Rose (Cotterill 71), Smith, Doyle (Dawson 70), Done, Davies, Nouble. Unused substitutes: Lidakevicius, Gray.

Reading: Federici, Mullins, Pearce, Gorkss, Harte, Kebe (Church 83), Leigertwood, Karacan (Tabb 76), McAnuff (Robson-Kanu 67), Roberts, Hunt. Unused substitutes: Andersen, Le Fondre.

Referee: D Sheldrake (Surrey).

Man of the match: Jem Karacan.