TWO games in particular told Andries Ulderink all he needed to know about Reading FC and what could lie ahead.

On the one hand, a season of toil and struggle looked plausible, on the other a campaign of hope and glory.

Rewind to Saturday, August 13 and Jaap Stam's newly-formed team are soundly beaten by Wolves at Molineux.

Royals, still adapting to Stam's possession-based approach, saw 66% of the ball but did little with it as goals from Matt Doherty and Joe Mason sealed the home side's victory.

It was a wake-up call for manager Stam and assistant Ulderink in the early days of their reign.

“We saw a lot of Championship games before we came here to England,” said Ulderink. “A big warning for us as a team was maybe Wolves away. We got beaten there and had no chance to win the game.

“We knew that that playing out from the back with a possession game wasn't going to be easy.”

A stark warning indeed, but fast forward two weeks to Saturday, August 27 when Yann Kermorgant grabbed his first goal of the campaign in a 1-0 victory over Cardiff City in the Welsh capital.

A classic it wasn't but Royals controlled 68% of possession on the day and won.

“For myself there was never really a big moment where we though it's going to happen for us this season,” admitted Ulderink.“You saw the Rotherham and Wigan home games recently, they were so tight.

“But there was one game in the process when I thought it was a really important one, and that was Cardiff.

“It was just before the international break and because of the win and the way we played, I felt it was a big win in terms of what we were trying to do.

“We went into the international break with a good feeling and then went on quite a decent run.

“But everyone knows the league is so intense, we played seven games in April. Look at Leeds, maybe they are a very nice example. They didn't have a good April and they are out of the top six.”

However, Ulderink insists he and Stam both arrived at Madejski Stadium last June with their eyes wide open having done all their homework.

He explained: “We wanted to form some ideas about the players so we watched about 14 games and lot of clips to get an impression of the league and think about what we could achieve if we did this or that and tried to dominate games more.

“That knowledge definitely helped and the players have become more and more comfortable with the system as the season has gone on.

“No-one expected us to finish third in the table so we've had a great season already.”

Bracknell News:

Andries Ulderink passes on instructions to midfielder George Evans.

That may be the case, but Reading stand on the cusp of promotion back to the Premier League if they can dispose of Fulham in the play-off semi finals then triumph at Wembley.

Yet not everything is rosy for the Royals who have conceded more goals this season than any side ever to have qualified for the play-offs.

Reading (64 goals) have also let in a whole lot more this season than Sheffield Wednesday (45), Huddersfield (58) and Fulham (57).

Ulderink, though, is not worried about potential weaknesses in the Royals' defence: “It doesn't concern me because we defend as a whole team,” he declared.

“Hopefully we've learned from a couple of away games like Brentford (lost 4-1), Fulham (lost 5-0) and Norwich (lost 7-1) that you have to be ready from the first whistle and expect everything from your opponent.

“You can't think that you will look at what your opponent is doing first because it's too late.

“But the group is in a good place at the moment. We feel confident and we know what will be asked of us in the play-offs.”

Another blip in an otherwise outstanding season for the Royals has been their patchy away form that has seen them lose more games (11) on their travels than Sheffield Wednesday (7), Huddersfield (9) and Fulham (5).

However, Ulderink argued: “Play-off games will be very different to league games. Our squad has shown they have learnt things over the season so I'm not overly bothered by playing home and away.

“Everyone knows most teams get more points at home than away, that's quite normal in football.

“But, of course, we've thought about how we're going to play teams who are maybe very dominant at home, we'll be prepared for that.”

Ulderink on his relationship with Stam:

"Jaap was a top player then became a manager. I was an amateur player then took up coaching, so we took a different route.

“It's nice working with him. He's not a manager who does everything by himself. He gets all his staff involved in how we want to play by watching clips together. We analyse games together and that makes it nice.

“I can only speak for myself, but Jaap doesn't have any agendas. I can say what I want and I always feel I can tell him what I think. That's what I like. It makes it very open and honest.

“He doesn't have agendas with agents or anything. I couldn't work like that. For me the job is about developing a team and getting results together.

“Sometimes you make poor decisions, but you learn from them. Working with Jaap is very natural.”

However, he added: "Is a friend someone you meet for coffee all the time and go out eating twice a week? My relationship with Jaap is that I trust him 100 per cent if I have a problem.

“One of my sons was struggling to adapt over here, but I can talk with Jaap about that.

“But we work six or seven days a week for the club so we're not going to finish training then go to each other's houses.”

Ulderink on Reading FC takeover:

"It's a little insecure in terms of what we can do money-wise in terms of planning ahead and looking at players.

“Hopefully during the weeks and months ahead we will find out what's going to happen as quickly as possible because that would be good for the long-term future of the club.

“I asked the gaffer the other day if there was any news but there wasn't. I don't know how far it's gone on.

"The last I heard were the Chinese were still talking to the Championship and getting the last details done."