Royals boss Brian McDermott was absolutely delighted after seeing his team earn their first win of the season 2-1 away to Leicester City.

The ever-impressive Gylfi Sigurdsson opened the scoring with a very classy goal, and after Lloyd Dyer equalised with an excellent strike, Matt Mills powered home a brilliant header with just minutes to go, giving us a deserved victory.

Skipper Mills put in a heroic performance, playing on for the majority of the game when obviously injured, and also clearing a goalbound City shot off the line just seconds after he had scored.

There were excellent displays from a number of individuals - notably Shaun Cummings, who played very well at left back in his first game since December, Adam Federici, who made a brilliant save at 1-1, and Jobi McAnuff, excellent out of position at right back after Brynjar Gunnarsson went off.

McDermott and his players shared the victory with our supporters at the final whistle, going right over to them to celebrate the three points, and the boss said afterwards, "It's a massive three points and it feels fantastic.

"Our fans will go home delighted, and after the way we played on Tuesday night against Northampton we've now done ourselves justice. There was great spirit in our team, we just kept going right to the end. 

"Shaun Cummings played his first ever game for me and he was fabulous. He was composed on the ball, got to the ball quickly, and as a team we gave him a round of applause in the dressing room afterwards, he deserved it.

"Federici was really disappointed with last week, but today, what a fantastic goalkeeping display. Jobi McAnuff played at full back and was excellent, he can play there, no problem. He's quick, clever and diligent. Jimmy was diligent on the other side as well. It wouldn't have been Jimmy's best game but he's gone away from home, put his shift in and as a team we've got three points.

"After the Northampton game we were up against it a bit, there was a little bit of anxiety coming into the game but we were terrific, real great spirit.

"I could sense there was a bit of doom and gloom from outside, people were saying 'was he lucky last season' but I don't think I was lucky. I love the job, I love working for Reading, I really love this job. This makes everything worthwhile. We've got five points, I think we should have more but we are where we are and this kickstarts us.

"We went 4-4-2 after they scored to try and win the game, and I think we got our just rewards. Leicester will point to a couple of chances they had at the end but I'm not bothered about that, just delighted with the three points.

"They had one disallowed but it looked a clear push from where I was. They were pushing at the end, they made a real fist of it and it was a long four minutes - thankfully not as long as in midweek!

"Gylfi's goal was a class act, a splendid finish. Then the second was an excellent delivery and a great header from Matt Mills. Straight afterwards he put in a great header off our own goalline, I thought it was in. He'd gone down injured earlier on but really got his rewards.

"This win competely changes things. If we'd lost or drawn we'd have said the table doesn't matter - but it does and we can say that now! You want to be up the table, it's just a really important three points and we'll enjoy it.

"Coming into the game we lost four or five full backs. Bryn has pulled his hamstring, Griff is out with a hamstring, Marcus had a calf problem and Julian Kelly injured his thigh in midweek. Matt Mills went down and I thought we would have had to put Gylfi centre half.

"I'd imagine we'd have Griffin and Williams back for the next game, hopefully Brynjar too. He's due on international duty this week but I don't imagine he'll be playing in that now.

"Jem Karacan had a black eye the size of an egg! It was a fair size, he was very brave. Shane Long led the line well, Churchy looked like his old self as well.

"Now we look forward to Crystal Palace, hopefully we'll have a few back. The international break is at a perfect time."

A full video interview with Brian is on Player now.