Reading v Barnsley FC: Deja vu in December for Reds in another key barometer in their League One season

Twelve months on and the aim remains the same.

In the festive month of 2022, the Reds picked up 10 points from a possible 12 in an unbeaten four-match run curtailed slightly by the weather.

The Oakwell outfit are in a virtually identical position after 18 league games of the current campaign than they were in the last one – they are actually one point better off.

Weather permitting, December and the Christmas and New Year period will be busier than the last month and it will be every bit as important.

Despite Barnsley being right in the play-off mix for the second year in a row, it has not stopped some supporters from being critical of head coach Neill Collins of late.

Speaking earlier this week, chairman Neerav Parekh stressed that the criticism was ‘unwarranted.’

So be it, but for it to go away in some quarters, a positive end to the old calendar year would definitely help.

Collins said: "It’s a very important time.

“There’s three Saturdays in a row where there’s nothing in between and then there’s four games in 10 days, which is quite a lot.

“If you come through that period positively, you should be sat in a good position.

“There’s a lot of points to play for in that period.

“We’re not even halfway yet and we are in a good position to capitalise on it and it’s a solid platform.

“The players who come back will make us better as a group to help us go from strength to strength,” he added.

Having tweaked the playing style from last season, with more of an emphasis upon defenders playing the ball out from the back, Collins is yet to find a happy medium in terms of approach and results, but feels that the best is still to come.

He said: “We’ve had some really good patches. To go from the first minute to the last and be ‘all singing and all dancing’, even the best teams find that hard, especially in a league like League One where you play a lot of top teams. It’s about having longer periods of what you want to be and then taking advantage.

“But I’ve seen some positives and we are sitting in a fantastic position in the league where we can improve and step on. It’s about improving these small details.”