The departure of manager Brendan Rodgers confirms Reading are in crisis, but they should be boosted by the return of two strikers tomorrow.

The irony of the situation will not be lost on the former Chelsea and Watford coach who has paid the price for a lack of goals since he took over in the summer.

International forwards Simon Church (Wales) and Shane Long (Republic of Ireland) should be back for the trip to Ashton Gate.

Long has completed a three-game ban for a sending off and Church has recovered from a back injury.

Fellow frontman Noel Hunt has been out since September with knee trouble and is not expected back until well into 2010.

Such problems meant Reading had to play one up front at home to Scunthorpe last week and could only draw 1-1 with one of the division's worst defences.

Polish targetman Grzegorz Rasiak scored but that was not enough to save Rodgers' job.

Chairman John Madejski has been keen to sell Reading for some time and so star players such as former City right-back Liam Rosenior and midfielder James Harper have been loaned out to Ipswich and Sheffield United respectively to cut the wage bill.

Reading are expected to recall highly-rated, on-loan Chelsea youngster Ryan Bertrand for tomorrow's game. The player billed as 'the next Ashley Cole' is set to return at left-back after missing the Scunthorpe game with tonsillitis.

Alex Pearce and Ivar Ingimarsson will be the centre-halves in front of goalkeeper Adam Federici, who spent a loan spell on the Robins' bench three seasons ago. Versatile Jay Tabb is tipped to be right-back.

Jobi McAnuff is likely to be on the left of a multi-national midfield that may include Kalifa Cisse (Mali), Marek Matejovsky (Czech Republic) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (Iceland).