Vito Mannone: 6

Not a huge amount to do, but made some routine saves to preserve his clean sheet.

Leandro Bacuna: 7

The former Villa man oozes composure and calm on the ball, and looked very comfortable on the ball all night. Not overly troubled by Barnsley's attacks, and drove forward dangerously a few times.

Paul McShane: 6

Solid as per, but a little shaky in possession. Brownie points for telling a heckler in the Dolan Stand to, ahem, 'be quiet'.

Liam Moore: 7

Defensively sound like McShane, and produced a fine goal-line clearance in the second half to deny Barnsley a route back into the game at 2-0. Hit the post in the second half with a driven shot from range.

Chris Gunter: 6

Standard no frills Gunter, looked comfortable at left back and got forward a few times.

Joey van den Berg: 7

Threw his weight around effectively to break up Barnsley attacks, but his distribution was mixed. Terrific goal from range to double Reading's lead, although the goalie should perhaps have done better at his near post.

Dave Edwards: 6

Didn't stamp his authority on the game as he usually does, instead having a pretty quiet evening. Smart header to open the scoring, but it really should have been saved.

Liam Kelly: 5

A frustrating night for Kelly who's being asked to provide a creative spark in the absence of John Swift. Unfortunately, he doesn't do well in that advanced role - ineffective when driving forward, muscled off the ball various times, and loose passing. However, he can be happy with his corner that Edwards converted.

Sone Aluko: 6

The summer signing didn't get into the game, but still worked hard and dropped back well to link up play.

Yann Kermorgant: 5

Ineffective. Still off the pace, and suffered both from his own lack of fitness and the team's lack of Swift. Needs game time to get back into the swing of things.

Modou Barrow: 7

Reading's brightest attacking spark again, Barrow just loves to run at a defence. Used his pace well by charging both down the flank and through the middle. Showed a confidence and positivity that Jimmy Kebe would be proud of.

Subs

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson: 7

I wouldn't say he looked sharp per se, but Bodvarsson's energy and intelligent use of strength made him a valuable outlet for a Reading team that was under the cosh a tad in the second half.

Grew into the game as it went on, running at the visitors' defence to cause them problems. Excellent predator instincts to get his third goal of the season.

Adrian Popa: 6

He's alive! Hooray! Stam finally gave the Romanian another chance in first team football. Popa was his usual industrious self, but didn't get much of a chance offensively until a tasty curled shot late on that crashed against the bar. Encouraging, but needs more minutes.

Tiago Ilori: N/A

Brought on for Kelly so that Reading could go three at the back for some reason, but not on long enough to have a notable impact.

Average: 6.23

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