Royals defender Michael Duberry is glad to be back in the first team again - and has paid homage to coach Nigel Gibbs for helping him stay sharp and ready for action.

Duberry has been injury-free for some time now, and was able to make a smooth transition into the first team as we defeated Coventry 3-1 on Monday evening.

Michael said, "I've been training with Gibbo and it's thanks to him I'm sharp enough to go straight in there.

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"There's a group of people not in the team but even within them the atmosphere is great and credit to Gibbo for that.

"The squad is very strong here, we didn't lose too many in the summer. People thought we might go down to the bare bones but lads have stayed faithful to the cause.

"There's a high level of intensity among the lads out of the team. There's places up for grabs and those in the team know that there are players waiting - Jem, Pearcey, James Henry, they've all proven themselves already.

"For me it's nice to be back in the team, I've had to wait patiently and hopefully now I can keep my place.

"The team had been winning, Bikey and Ive did well do there's no reason for me to knock on the manager's door."

Michael put in a solid performance against the Sky Blues, and was disappointed to be penalised for the free kick that lead to Danny Fox's goal in the first half.

"I thought I came in from the side and won the ball, to be honest. The ref said I came from the back, which I disagreed with. Thankfully in the end it wasn't costly and we responded positively to going behind.

"I didn't want that decision on my performance really, otherwise I thought it was comfortable for me and Ive.

"I thought I'd won the ball, Eastwood was running straight into us and getting away with it on the night, and Clinton was back in and getting away with it.

"We wanted to win and be strong at home, now the next step is to take it on the road."