Gary Lineker’s shirt attire and forced links may at times be grating, but surely Marcus Hahnemann was going too far in the way he was viewing Match of the Day. “I’ve been watching with a bucket by the side, just in case I had to puke — that’s how bad it got,” the Reading goalkeeper said.

Lineker and his sofa-dwelling colleagues need not worry, this is not a critique from a campaigner for pun-free football coverage, more from a player who, until James Harper’s late winner on Saturday, has had to endure television highlights of his team’s eight consecutive Barclays Premier League defeats.

“It was hard to look at all that stuff,” he said, although a first away victory in more than ten months to end a winless streak that began in December brought a change of habit. “This time I’ll watch with a glass of Jim Beam bourbon and some ice by my side,” the 35-year-old said after ending a near five-month quest for a clean sheet.

A first point since Boxing Day ensured that Reading’s relegation rivals stay within range. “Without this win our position could have looked absolutely horrendous,” Hahnemann said. “We might have started to wonder if we could claw it back because a run like we had drains confidence.”

Middlesbrough’s pet hate with the BBC’s flagship football coverage is that they always seem to be last in the running order, but after their midweek FA Cup exertions caught up with them, it was a case of the later the better when it came to this appearance on the small screen for Gareth Southgate, the manager.

Southgate, whose team are only four points above the relegation zone after a first home defeat since New Year’s Day, said: “The table makes interesting reading. There were too many tired finishes, tired crosses and tired final balls.”

Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, does not look at the table. “I don’t need to, I know roughly where we are and have plenty of people telling me about it,” he said.

Coppell has set a target of 15 points from his team’s ten remaining matches to reach the presumed safety of 40. “With 40 you know you’re not going to get relegated. That is every team’s target and there’s a subconscious sigh of relief when you get there,” he said.

Middlesbrough (4-4-2): M Schwarzer 6 – L Young 6, D Wheater 6, E Pogatetz 7, J Grounds 5 – G O’Neil 6, G Boateng 4 (sub: Johnson 75min 5), J Arca 4 (sub: L Cattermole 60 5), S Downing 7 – Afonso Alves 5 (sub: Mido 68 5), Tuncay Sanli 7. Substitutes not used: B Jones, S Hines. Booked: Wheater, Grounds, Downing, Boateng. Next: Aston Villa (a).

Reading (4-4-2): M Hahnemann 6 – L Rosenior 6, A Bikey 6, I Ingimarsson 7, N Shorey 6 – J Oster 3 (sub: D Kitson 69min, 5), J Harper 8, M Matejovsky 4 (sub: J Kebe 85), S Hunt 6 – S Long 6, K Doyle 6 (sub: K Cissé 85 5). Substitutes not used: A Federici, I Sonko. Booked: Bikey, Hunt, Rosenior, Shorey, Long. Next: Manchester City (h).