READING FC manager Jaap Stam says the play-off semi-finals are not in his thoughts as his side prepare for two Championship fixtures in the next three days.

Royals remain on course for a top-six finish despite last weekend's 7-1 thrashing at Norwich City.

Stam's men are three points ahead of Fulham – the side immediately outside the play-off – and also boast a game in hand after the Cottagers won 3-1 at Norwich this afternoon.

Royals face a tough trip to an in-form Aston Villa tomorrow (3pm) before they come up against four teams at the bottom starting with relegated Rotherham United at home on Monday (3pm ko).

And while it would take an almighty collapse for Royals to miss out on the play-offs, Stam does not want to tempt fate by looking too far ahead.

“'I'm not thinking about that at all because I know what could happen, even with five games to go,” declared the Dutchman.

“Maybe the opposition won't win all of their games, but we are still in control of ourselves.

“Saying that, we still need to win some matches and that's why I'm still taking it game-by-game.

“Aston Villa is the first and if we get a result it will make it easier to stay up there.

“But I don't want to think about being third or sixth in the league and what might happen then. I know what could happen if it goes wrong.”

Few critics saw last weekend's mauling at Norwich coming as Reading had won their three previous fixtures including victories over play-off rivals Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday.

And Stam was eager to put the loss at Carrow Road into perspective.

He explained: “After a defeat like that you can't just put it over there and not think about it any more.

“These are the things we need to learn from to get to where we want to go. It's happened a couple of times this season but we have always come back from it.

“We we mustn't forget is that we're working with a very young team who need to learn. They were playing against a quality Norwich side.

“It's not easy when you lose like that but you have to move forward. We're still fourth and hopefully we'll end up in the top six.

“There's no need to dwell on the result any more because we can't change it.”

One factor going against Reading is their negative goal difference of minus one.

You have to look as far down as Cardiff City in 14th spot to find a team with a worse goal difference.

But Stam insisted: “It doesn't play on my mind. Of course you don't want a negative goal difference, you want to be plus 20 or something like that.

“But because of the way we play we can be a bit more open and concede more goals than other teams.

“You try to prevent that, but when you are building a team it can take a couple of seasons to get everything right so you maybe score 100 goals and only concede five.

“It's not easy, but these are the risks.”