Ibrahima Sonko was given a big lift on Thursday when he joined in with training for the first time since January.

The defender has been sidelined with a knee problem, but was out on the Hogwood Park pitches with the rest of the squad.

His participation could best be described as light training, but it was a huge boost for everyone to see the big Senegalese in action again.

Boss Steve Coppell told Reading World, "It's good progress.

"He'll train with us more regularly, but there'll be no physical contact.

"Thankfully he's big enough to notice and get out of the way!

"It's a fillip for him, it can be lonely sometimes just doing your running and swimming.

"It's nice to have a change and the best possible change is to join in.

"It's a boost for him and for us, he's a strong personality in the squad and it's good to have him.

"We always said September and it will be mid-to-late September. He's a few weeks off playing."