Jan Poortvliet is hoping Saints will break their terrible first half scoring jinx at Reading today.

Incredibly, Saints have managed only FOUR goals in the first half of their 17 Championship matches so far this season.

The only Football League team to have a worse record is the Championship’s bottom team, Doncaster.

Premiership pair Stoke and West Brom equal Saints’ sorry effort but have played less games.

The statistic tells its own story and it is hard to pinpoint why Saints are so much better after the break.

But Poortvliet is hoping it’s a trend his side can buck at high-flying Reading today, a team unbeaten at home in their last 30 Championship matches.

The Royals have won a staggering 26 of those matches and along with Shrewsbury have scored more home goals (24) this season than any other of the 92 professional clubs.

“This is a big challenge because they are unbeaten at home,” Poortvliet said.

“You always think in the way we play we can do it but that means no early goals conceded, watch out from set-pieces and for once score the first goal.

“Then it is possible to have a good result there.

“When you see our last game against Wolverhampton it was outstanding, especially in the second half when you see what we can do.

“We need to start like that and believe in it and to be everywhere because we can do the job. We need to score at the right moment and try not to concede."

For full story see today's Daily Echo.