Moore has high praise for rivals Reading

Bullish Reading are confident enough in their impressive league form to warn leaders Portsmouth and Leicester against thinking promotion is in the bag, but may need to watch their own backs against Rotherham United this afternoon.

The two least likely contenders come face to face at the Madejski Stadium, Reading having moved into third place with four wins in a row, while Rotherham are back on the threshold of play-off territory after appearing only recently to be running out of steam.

Ronnie Moore's low-budget team, promoted in 2001, escaped an instant return to the Second on goal difference last season. A bright start to the current campaign kept them in the top six until late September, but inconsistent form subsequently saw them slip to 13th three weeks ago after a 3-0 defeat at Derby.

But a win at Watford followed by a 1-0 defeat of Coventry last weekend shot the Millers back up to sixth place, where they would be still had Wolves not won at Ipswich in midweek.

All season, Moore has maintained a belief that there would be an unexpected name pressing for elevation to the Premiership and clearly has been hoping it would be his team, who continue to defy their modest circumstances with rousing performances against supposedly superior opponents. After watching Reading's 3-1 win at Sheffield United, however, Moore is beginning to wonder whether Alan Pardew's side – promoted last season – could be the ones to cause a surprise.

"It was as good a performance as I've seen," he said, "and I've watched teams such as Portsmouth and Leicester a lot. I have not seen a better organised side this season. Better football sides, yes, but they were well drilled and most impressive."

Should Reading clinch a play-off place it will be a remarkable achievement for another First Division side living within ever-narrowing margins. Their defender Steve Brown has not ruled out automatic promotion, even with a 10-point deficit on second-placed Leicester still to be closed.

Brown was a member of the Charlton team that won the First Division championship in 2000, but recalls that Alan Curbishley's side almost threw away the title. "We were in that top spot with 15 games to go with something like a 12-point lead, but we ended up winning the title by just two points," he said.

"Each time you don't get a result you start to worry more and if Leicester or Portsmouth do have a wobble you never know what will happen."

Both sides are expected to be unchanged, with Reading's Luke Chadwick bidding to maintain a 100 per-cent winning record in his fifth match on loan from Manchester United.