Royals frontman Simon Church was delighted to help the team to an important victory at Preston on Tuesday night, and singled out goalkeeper Adam Federici for praise.

The Royals were streets ahead in the first half, but Preston found more momentum in the second period and Federici made some top class saves to preserve the points.

Church said, "He's a top quality keeper and he kept us in the game. To be fair he's kept us in a lot of games and we came out on top in the end this time.

"It's nice to see us get a bit of luck. Previously the ball has been hitting the post and going in, this time Feds has been tipping them onto the post and it's gone out.

"The main thing is the three points and it's a case of keeping going now. We go into Saturday with confidence."

Church opened the scoring in the 35th minute with a very tidy finish, and he was delighted with his strike.

He said, "I've only scored two for Reading and this one is my best. Hopefully now there will be a lot more to come and a lot more chances for me.

"It's what I love doing. I spend hours practising scoring in training and you need to keep on doing that so it becomes second nature.

"It was a nice goal, it's great to win and get us on track."