Alex McCarthy: 8
A top performance from McCarthy who marked his return to the ground where he starred as a loanee with a string of fine saves to help his side keep a rare clean sheet. His all round game was exemplary and he commanded his area very well throughout the game. It's safe to say we'll all be glad if the window shuts with McCarthy still a Reading player.
Chris Gunter: 5
A tough day at the office for the Welsh right back who looked a bit lost at times and struggled to make his mind up about which ball to play throughout the afternoon. He was nearly caught in possession more than once and all too often he'd get beyond his winger, only to then play the wrong ball back rather than get a decent ball into the box. It was nice to see him bombing forward but he's got to work on the end product.
Alex Pearce: 6
Generally solid display from Pearce who did the usual dirty work of winning balls in the air and putting the ball into the stand when required. He made a good tackle at the start of the second half but you'd still like to see a bit more composure at times from our former player of the year.
Sean Morrison: 6
Like Pearce, the captain did the dirty work well and made a great tackle when tracking back in the second period but like his fellow centre back, he was guilty of playing a few too many long balls and you still weren't fully at ease when players were running at him with pace.
Shaun Cummings: 6
Cummings played much better than he did at Peterborough and it was a decent shift for the naturally right sided defender. His lack of a left foot didn't help him but it was nice to see him still get into attacking areas and help Williams and Drenthe.
Danny Guthrie: 6
Did a nice job of keeping possession ticking over but struggled to create a lot and generally stamp his authority in the game. Not terrible by any stretch but failed to really stand out.
Jem Karacan: 5
Karacan made some fine tackles throughout the game but was guilty of giving away possession a bit too much for my liking and it was a bit of a step backwards for the Turkish international who had put in some fine displays recently.
Garath McCleary: 6
McCleary can consider himself unlucky to have lasted just 35 minutes as he was sacrificed to allow a tactical shift. Had one of our best efforts on goal and showed good attacking intent.
I'm struggling with this rating because while Drenthe looked a threat when he did get the ball, all too often he was isolated, giving the ball away or generally wasting good positions. His set pieces were poor and his first half shot that ended up about 10 yards from the byline for a throw in was a bit embarrassing. Like all flair players, Royston is going to have bad games and sadly this was one of them.
Nick Blackman: 4
Again I feel sorry for Blackman who put himself about well and tried to win lost causes but just had a miserable day at the office. There were glimpses of a decent player out there but all I can remember is him tackling himself to lose possession or the ball pinging off him. This isn't a player we should be giving up on but it is somebody who we're going to have to improve upon in the short term if we want to win the league.
Adam Le Fondre: 7
Le Fondre was his usual hard working self, chasing the ball here there and everywhere all while the 5ft 9' forward had to try and win long balls against a 6ft 3' Dan Seaborne or 6ft 4' Byron Webster. His hard work was rewarded with a penalty which once again Alfie converted under pressure. It wasn't a vintage Alfie performance but at the end of the day he created and scored the winning goal and if I'm writing this another 20 times this season I don't think any of us will be complaining.
Substitutes
Another good performance from the subs bench from Williams who added a bit more stability to a midfield that was being overrun throughout most of the first half. He played some neat balls and made some good forward runs and it was good to see Williams bounce back from an underwhelming performance at Peterborough.
Hal Robson-Kanu: 7
Possibly the best 25 minutes we've seen from HRK this season and while it may not have been spectacular, the Welsh international certainly added another dimension to our attack this afternoon.
Hope Akpan: 6
Did what he needed to do with about 10 minutes to impress, again nice to see him put in a decent shift after playing at Posh in midweek.
So that's how we've seen it but who do you think was Reading's player of the match? Vote below or leave your comments.