Reading FC 3-0 Fulham: Player Ratings

Adam Federici: 7

Very little for the Australian to do but was alert enough to make a smart stop with the score at 1-0.

Jordan Obita: 8

Two assists for the reigning Player of the Season means he should at least get a glass of champers from the club's MOTM Glenn Murray! Not always at the very top of his game defensively but he was excellent going forward and surely the debate is now over as to where he should be lining up in the short-term at least.

Alex Pearce: 7

Made marking an £11 million pound forward look effortless, didn't have an awful lot to do but did what was needed.

Michael Hector: 8

A classy performance from Hector who did he best both doing basic defensive work and playing some silky looking passes. Pleasing to see him return to the type of form that saw him take so many plaudits against Ipswich.

Chris Gunter: 7

The captain put in his usual hard working and energetic display down the right hand side while being decent in both defence and attack. His ball to Cox should have led to a goal, while he made a great last ditch tackle to keep Reading in the lead during the first half.

Hope Akpan: 8

This was possibly Hope's best performance in a Reading FC shirt. He looked far more confident on the ball, with some good touches and decent passes as well. He did his defensive duties very well and put in a strong case to keep Aaron Kuhl out of the side.

Oliver Norwood: 9

I'm desperately tempted to give this man a 10 for his performance today but the fact that Fulham was so lifeless and some wayward finishing just about cost the former Manchester United trainee a perfect score. Not that we should take away anything from Norwood who otherwise hardly put a foot wrong in a masterful performance just in front of the back four. Think Matejovsky, Dillon, Osborn and Guthrie in their primes and that's what we got from Norwood.

Jake Taylor: 6

For me Taylor was the only starter that could perhaps be considered averagely good, rather than excellent. Taylor didn't have a bad game but he struggled to make much of an impact on the game and his touches and passing were a tad wayward especially during the first half. He still doesn't look totally comfortable playing out on the left but he's doing enough to hold his own right now.

Jamie Mackie: 7

Mackie might well have had a telepathic link with Norwood as the Forest loanee always seemed to be on the end of a perfectly executed ball from the midfielder. Mackie put in a very hard working shift out on the right hand side but perhaps could have done a bit better when in some promising attacking areas.

Simon Cox: 7

Like Mackie you couldn't fault the work rate of Cox but like his former Forest team mate he might well be wishing he'd made more of a couple of good chances.

Glenn Murray: 9

Two goals on your debut in a 67 minute appearance, what more can you ask for? As I wrote during my match report, Murray was everything we hoped we'd be getting with many already comparing him to the likes of Jimmy Quinn. The Palace loanee perhaps didn't look 100% match fit but that's to be expected and you really have to dig hard to find any genuine faults with his performance out there.

SUBSTITUTES

Pavel Pogrebnyak: 6

Two noteworthy moments involving the Russian, with one of them seeing his header bounce into the ground before deflecting on to the bar. The second involved some good gallows humour from the Fulham fans who responded to the home fans' chants of 'We've got a big f'ing Russian' with 'We've got a s**t f'ing German' touché away fans, touché.

Nick Blackman: 7

Goals breed confidence and Blackman took his chance well even if it did get a little hairy at times! The forward knows he faces a real battle to keep his place after recent signings and hopefully this little cameo will spur him on to greater things at the club.

Ryan Edwards: NA

Little time to make much of an impact for Edwards.

So that's how we've seen it but what did you make of it? Let us know in the comments section and please feel free to vote in our poll below.