Summer signing, Orlando Sa, continued his fine start to his Reading career by bagging a hat-trick in the impressive Friday night victory over Ipswich Town. The Portuguese hitman however is quickly turning his attention to the next fixture, with Derby County coming to town on Tuesday 15 September 2015.
Sa hits the ground running
Sa, a signing from Polish side Legia Warsaw - where he finished as the division's top goalscorer - was in devastating form for Reading on Friday. Scoring three, he continued his good start and is level on goals with Nick Blackman on four, having scored against Brentford before the international break.
In his interview with the official Reading FC website, Sa stated he was "already thinking about the next game" after admitting he will "enjoy tonight" speaking after his hat-trick.
Sa was quick to praise his team mates however, stating, "Strikers need goals, but can only score goals where there is assistance". Sa added "Against Ipswich I had great assistance from my teammates, [so] I want to say thank you to them".
The frontman, reported to have cost the Royals around £1 million in the summer, had a previous stint in England with Fulham whilst in the Premier League, but only managed one goal in his seven appearances.
Head-to-head
Reading are unbeaten in five in the league after suffering opening-day defeat and lie on the fringes of the play-offs. They face a Derby side buoyed by their first win of the season away at Preston at the weekend, and there is evidence that this will be a tough game for both teams.
It is worth noting, however, that Derby are currently unbeaten away from home in the league and haven't lost in the last three games at the Madejski Stadium. These results aside however, Reading have dominated Derby in recent history, winning 11 times out of the last 16 meetings since 2005 in the league.