Brian McDermott's side currently occupy the second automatic promotion berth in the npower Championship table following a 2-0 win over the Yorkshire club at the start of the Easter weekend.

And despite the difficult nature of the win, Federici is looking ahead to the fixture at Brighton.

"It was a tough game on Friday, you're going to get that from a Neil Warnock side. He's a good manager, but you always know you're in for a fight," Federici told Reading's official website.

"But we have licked our wounds and now we're really looking forward to the game on Tuesday night - it's all about a big game at Brighton.

"People are saying about how many wins we need, but we'll concentrate on this one win right now and focus only on Tuesday night."

The Football League calendar always throws up a tight fixture schedule around Easter as Australia international Federici is all too aware.

"I've lost track of the days to be honest, with so many games," he said.

"I'm always at the training ground every day anyway it seems - I'm going to have to set my bed up there I think."

Brighton started the season well but have fallen away of late and now sit on the periphery of the play-off places.

However, manager Gus Poyet is looking forward to facing a strong Reading outfit.

He told the club's official website: "We have a chance to test ourselves against the best team (in the Championship) and it will be good to see how the players perform against them.

"I hope that tomorrow shows that we want to compete at the same level as these teams for the next few years."

Poyet also praised his Reading counterpart's dealings in the January transfer window - a part of the game the Uruguayan believes is becoming more and more crucial to success.

"Reading were there or thereabouts and you knew something could happen, but then in January they made a massive impact, especially with the signing of Jason Roberts," he said.

"It looks like Brian knew exactly what was needed because the rest of the team was performing well, there was just something that was missing.

"He has got that now so credit to him as manager. Recruitment nowadays is probably the most important part of football and he has done a fantastic job for Reading."

There is also a big fixture towards the bottom of the table as Portsmouth host Millwall hoping their late derby-day dramatics against Southampton can give them the momentum to mount a late survival challenge.

Pompey were 2-1 down at St. Mary's before David Norris struck in the final minute to earn what could prove to be a pivotal point for Michael Appleton's side.

But former Ipswich midfielder Norris told portsmouthfc.co.uk he is not going to be dwelling on the moment.

"We hope the Southampton game can be a turning point," he said.

"We didn't overdo our celebrations because we've now got a big game against Millwall.

"If we had a whole week before games then we might have enjoyed it a bit more, but now we've got to look to build."

Portsmouth are now six points from safety but their turbulent season - which saw they deducted 10 points for re-entering administration - could still be saved with a little consistency, according to Norris.

He said "That's what we haven't been able to do this season and it's the reason why we're still in trouble.

"We seem to go from a good result to a bad result. If we want to stay up then we know we have to go from a good result to another good result.

"We've lacked consistency and that has to change in our remaining five games of the season. If we can string a few good results together then we can still stay in the Championship. That's what we're determined to do."

Millwall sit 19th in the table but are only five points clear of the relegation places, and will be looking to pull further clear of the bottom three with a victory over Appleton's side.