Midfield man Brynjar Gunnarsson put in a very impressive performance at Stoke on Tuesday evening, making his first appearance in a Reading shirt in eight months.

Bryn's last game was the 3-1 loss at Aston Villa on 12th January, but he put in a very assured performance in the centre of midfield against his former club.

Alongside two-goal winger James Henry, he was arguably our best player, and had a very important hand in Henry's second goal with some wonderful skill to control a dropping ball and skip away from his man in one movement.

He also had a good shot saved by Steve Simonsen late on, and was finally withdrawn in the fifth minute of extra time after putting in a very good shift.

He received a very warm round of applause from both home and away supporters when he was substituted, being replaced by fellow Icelander Gylfi Sigurdsson. He will be hoping to come into contention for Saturday's home game against Swansea now.

Australian midfielder Oliver Bozanic and Academy product Daniel Spence were both on the bench for the Royals for the first time in their careers, but did not get on.