JAMIE Mackie admitted he will always respect his manger’s decision to leave him out of the Reading FC side after scoring his first goal of the season in the 3-0 win over Rotherham United.

Royals picked up their second home victory in a row on Tuesday night thanks to a superb opener from Mackie and a brilliant double from Simon Cox.

Ironically, both players has been dropped to the bench for the 3-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, with Mackie’s omission particularly surprising given he was named man-of-the-match in the 3-0 home win over struggling Blackpool the previous weekend.

His impressive performances of late also saw him named Royals’ fans Player of the Month for October before Tuesday night’s kick off.

The 29-year-old admitted: “Nobody wants to be rested, I want to play every game, but it’s not about me.

“The manager knows what he’s doing, he’s the one that picks the team and I have to respect his decision.

“Of course I want to start every game and make an impact for Reading, but you just get on with it.

“I’m a big lad and I’ve been in the game a long time. I don’t sulk about things, I just make sure that when I do play I play well, that’s all I can do.”

He stressed: “In football you always have a point to prove, I always play with that in mind. There is always someone out there you need to prove wrong.

“I just keep doing what I can and hope the manager picks me, but it’s not about me it’s about Reading doing well and I want to be part of that.”

Adkins came in for stinging criticism from supporters for leaving Mackie and Cox out of the starting line-up at Ewood Park.

But they justified their recall by finding the net against Rotherham.

It was an emotional night for Mackie who dedicated his first goal of the campaign to his grandmother, Winnifred, who passed away on Monday.

“I usually weigh in with a few goals from the right and hopefully I can go on a bit of a run,” he added.

“But the lads up front are bagging a load as well so we’re in a good place in terms of scoring goals. We’ve got quality coaches at this club and they have been on at us about that. We don’t just go to training for a jolly-up, even if we want to, we’re always working hard.

“They work on relevant things and one of those is linking up with each other, creating chances for each other and perhaps being less selfish by setting others up.”

Reading hope to make it three home wins in a row when they host Charlton Athletic this Saturday (3pm ko) before the upcoming international break.

Mackie declared: “It’s a home game we have to win. No other result is good enough. You have to win your home games if you want to be taken seriously in this league, and I want us to be challenging for the Premier League.”

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