JOEY van den Berg, Liam Kelly and Sam Smith are major injury doubts for Reading FC ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Derby County (3pm ko).

Van den Berg suffered suspected concussion during the first half of Tuesday night’s 3-1 home win over Nottingham Forest.

Teenage striker Smith also picked up a possible knee injury during the same game in only his second Championship start for the Royals.

And fellow midfielder Liam Kelly is struggling to recover from a thigh strain he picked up in a 2-0 loss to Middlesbrough at Madejski Stadium recently.

None of the injured Reading trio are expected to be involved in tomorrow’s trip to Pride Park, adding to boss Jaap Stam’s injury woes.

“Joey was involved in a collision in the box when he was on the floor,” explained Stam. “He got a knock from their striker and Paul McShane at the same time.

“He had some headaches at half time and couldn’t go on so we need to assess him.

“We took Liam off in the Middlesbrough game last week when he felt his thigh after making a pass. We’re not sure about him.

“Sam got a knock early in the Forest game when tackling a defender. I don’t know if he stepped on his shin or knee but he felt a lot of discomfort and wasn’t fit after that which is why we took him off.”

Bracknell News:

Joey van den Berg suffered a head injury against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.

Stam is already missing a host of injured players this weekend with Tiago Ilori unlikely to feature as he recovers from a serious head wound and striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson unavailable with a calf injury.

“Tiago is feeling quite good, though he still has some stitches in his head after his concussion,” added Stam. “We’re not sure if he will be available for Saturday but I don’t think it will be easy to get him into the squad.

“Jon Dadi is still out.”

In addition, Garath McCleary (groin), George Evans (thigh), Jordan Obita (knee), Callum Harriott (hamstring), Joseph Mendes (knee), Stephen Quinn (knee) and Tennai Watson (hamstring) are also sidelined at the moment.

And Stam must be wishing for a change of luck on the injury front.

“It is very frustrating and we have spoken a lot about it in recent weeks,” he confessed.

“We’re always looking for answers but a lot also happens in games where players get knocks or kicks.”

Bracknell News:

Midfielder Liam Kelly has picked up a thigh strain.

And Stam also suggested Royals would benefit from more protection from referees: “For some reason if we get kicked the referee keeps it going, it happens,” he complained. “We need to deal with that and we won’t use injuries as an excuse for not winning games.”

Reading have welcomed back two players from injury recently in Yann Kermorgant and John Swift.

Kermorgant, who had surgery in the summer, came off the bench against Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest and is likely to start at Derby with Bodvarsson, Smith and Mendes all sidelined.

Swift has also recovered from a double hamstring strain and scored his first goals of the season on Tuesday with a brace against Forest.

Meanwhile, former Reading loan striker Matej Vydra (calf) and David Nugent (illness) are available for Derby as boss Garey Rowett chases a fifth Championship win on the bounce.

Johnny Russell (groin) could return after missing two games but forwards Darren Bent (hamstring) and Mason Bennett (knee) have been ruled out.