Three, as they say, is a magic number.

But for Reading Football Club- three is also an elusive number.

For the sixth time under Ruben Selles, the Royals are entering a match looking to make it three successive League One victories. In the previous five attempts, the run has ended at two and, more often than not, with a defeat.

This isn't just a Selles issue, this stretched back beyond everyone's favourite Spaniard.

It has been 26 months since the club won three league matches on the bounce, coming under Paul Ince in August 2022, and the former England captain saw two later attempts to repeat the feat go begging.

Still riding high from what has been a successful week with wins over Crawley Town and Exeter City, there is now a real feeling among supporters that the squad can achieve something special against all the odds.

Who can blame the supporters, who have been starved of wins on the field, and dragged down with the doom and gloom off the field? it has been a thoroughly miserable period to be connected to Reading Football Club.

It has been eight years since supporters were in stadiums to witness a top-half finish (third in 2016/17) while Veljko Paunovic's exciting side helped keep fans entertained from home during the Covid-19 pandemic four years ago.

It was during this Covid-19 season that the Royals last picked up nine points in a week, beating Rotherham United, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday on route to a seventh-place finish despite challenging for promotion for almost the entire season.

Again, the last time supporters were in able to buy tickets to watch Reading win three matches in a week for themselves was way back in early 2020 under Mark Bowen...for context, the Welshman has left the club, returned and since departed again in that time.

Bristol Rovers visit the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Saturday looking to win in RG2 for the first time since the infamous 6-0 in 1999, but if supporters are to be proved right with their optimism, the Gas need to be heading back down the M4 empty-handed.

With a run of nine matches in four weeks- in three separate competitions- now provides a perfect time for Selles and Co. to break through the recent constraints of two straight wins and prove that three is indeed a magic number, even for the Royals.

If not, the club will continue to take one step forward before leaping back from whence they came.

We are all in agreement that hopefully three is a magic number on the takeover front too, with the club locked in exclusive talks with a third party since being up for sale 13 months ago.