A largely inexperienced Royals reserves were held to a 0-0 draw by Aldershot in Wednesday afternoon's totesport.com Combination League fixture.

Coach Nigel Gibbs told readingfc.co.uk, "We created a lot of chances but couldn't finish off any of our good play.

"Overall it was a decent performance up to the final third, and we probably deserved the win.

"We had some good opportunities in the last five or ten minutes, with Shane Long having a shot saved, Andre Bikey going close with a header and Abdulai Baggie shooting just wide.

"Defensively we were solid - Marcus had a couple of shots to save but on the whole we defended well as a team.

"It's another game under the belt for Marcus, and he looked very solid and confident. There's no sign of his injury and he was kicking really well.

"We were also pleased to have Jem Karacan back after a month out - he played for 65 minutes and gave a typically energetic performance."

Team: Hahnemann, Kelly, Harding, Bikey, Hateley, Karacan (Taylor 65), Sigurdsson, Spence, Frewen (Baggie 80), Long, Vasilev (White 65)
Unused subs: Andersen, Kamdjo

Reading World will have full highlights from the game available on Friday. See the free preview clip of last week's action, including a lovely chipped goal from Marek Matejovsky.