TALK about bad timing. Of all the times I could have been ill this season, my body decides to pick up a bug just a week before the play-offs.

I've been confined to my bed for the last few days, coughing, taking Nurofen, Paracetamol and cough medicine to try to get rid of it before the big game at Wolves on Saturday.

And although I feel marginally better, it's lurking and I'm still not 100 per cent.

But I'm hoping to be back training today and tomorrow and, fingers crossed, I'll be fit for Molineux.

At first it was just hay fever. I'd not felt too good on Sunday but still managed to play 90 minutes.

On the coach on the way back from Stoke I wasn't feeling any better and haven't been out of the house since Monday.

But I'll be damned if I'm missing out on the first leg of the play-offs on Saturday because this is what the season's all about if you haven't been promoted automatically.

It was the main reason I came to Reading on loan and I'm looking to both games against Wolves.

The fact that we're away first doesn't really affect things I don't think. We'll just be looking to get a head start to take back to Reading and see what happens.

We know what to expect.

Wolves are pretty solid all the way through the side, with experienced players and good youngsters.

But you always look to the attacking players in every team and look for the danger men.

They have a lot of pace up front with Dean Sturridge and my old mate from Crystal Palace George Ndah. But we will be aware of that and be working on things in training today and tomorrow.

On a sad note, a lot of my mates were released from Burnley last week. It's a shame for Marlon and Nik, Coxy, Brizza and the rest of the lads, but it shows what trouble the club has been in on the financial side of things. And it's not just at Burnley, it's happening at a lot of clubs.

People lose friends and players who have done well for the club over the years.

But all you can hope is that they get fixed up with something else quickly.

I've spoken to a couple of the lads who have gone out to Portugal and I'm hoping to catch up with the rest over the summer and stay in touch.