As Liam Rosenior lay on the ground in the 86th minute at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, he thought that he had equalised for Reading. A draw against Tottenham Hotspur would have ensured that his side went into the final round of fixtures in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday with their destiny in their own hands.

Not so. The deflection off Jonathan Woodgate may have strengthened Rosenior’s conviction that he would score, but Radek Cerny, the Tottenham goalkeeper, made a superb save.

Thanks to Fulham’s 2-0 home win over Birmingham City, Reading have to produce a better result against Derby County at Pride Park than Fulham against Portsmouth, whose minds are likely to be more focused on the FA Cup Final, at Fratton Park.

Such are the thin margins. Yet do Reading deserve to preserve their top-flight status when they have failed to score in more than six matches, a total of 9hr 11min? Do their jelly-legged efforts, their effective succumbing to the effects of second-season syndrome, merit any better? Not really.

Rosenior, the right back, begs to differ and, having experienced the same angst with Fulham in their fruitful battle against relegation last season, he is bullish. It was he who crossed for Clint Dempsey to as good as secure Fulham’s safety with the 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Craven Cottage in their penultimate match.

On Saturday, Rosenior could have shaped the future again. “I was lying on the floor thinking, ‘We’ve got a point here. That’s brilliant,’ ” he said. “But Cerny managed to get his hand to it, I don’t know how he’s done it. It’s just one of those things. We’ve just got to make sure that we win the next game [against Derby].

“What Fulham do is of no interest to me. I want to be a Premier League player with Reading. It’s amazing how similar this season has been to last season with Fulham. Everyone said then that we were safe, that we were too good to go down. This year’s been the same. You just find yourselves in a spiral that you find hard to reverse.”

Reading were running scared from the moment Robbie Keane guided in his 23rd goal of the campaign. Too many players either did not want the ball or, when they received it, did not know what to do with it.

Boos rained down from the home supporters, who have enjoyed little but success over the past three years. After Tottenham had comfortably repelled the late rally, few of the Reading players could even bear to hang around to bid farewell to the fans.

“We’ve just lost the habit of winning a football match,” Steve Coppell, the manager, said. “We now need to beat Derby. It’s up to us to deliver. For want of a better phrase, it’s s**t or bust.”

Reading (4-1-3-2): M Hahnemann 6 – L Rosenior 4 (sub: J Oster, 87min), M Duberry 5, I Ingimarsson 5, N Shorey 3 – A Bikey 4 (sub: M Matejovsky, 64 6) – K Doyle 6 (sub: S Long, 80), J Harper 5, S Hunt 3 – D Kitson 3, L Lita 4. Substitutes not used: K Cissé, A Federici. Booked: Harper. Next: Derby County (a).

Tottenham Hotspur (4-1-2-1-2): R Cerny 7 – A Hutton 5, M Dawson 5, J Woodgate 5, Gilberto 5 – D Zokora 4 – T Huddlestone 4 (sub: J O’Hara, 60 6), S Malbranque 6 – J Jenas 6 – R Keane 6 (sub: K-P Boateng, 86), D Bent 6. Substitutes not used: P Robinson, P Chimbonda, A Taarabt. Next: Liverpool (h).

Referee: H Webb
Attendance: 24,125