In summary a really good result in a game we completely dominated and should have won by 2 or 3. Rakels missed what looked to be a sitter but as it turned out it didn't matter.

We played some really nice football with Williams in particular impressing, Evans and Swift also had good games - it's not often you can say that about our midfield. Swift took his chance well.

Joey still looks like a red card liability but wasnt really tested. I think he was a good choice over Cooper as Preston only had Beckford up front,

I'll try not to get carried away - as Preston really weren't very good - but we have the makings of a decent team.

Great result today. the possession football we played in the 1st half was the best I have seen from a Reading team.

Swift looks a great signing as does Berrens.

William MOTM .

One game without Norwood and we score from a corner

BFTG and very excited for what's to come.

I can see Beerens, Mcleary & Harriott tearing up some full backs this season.

You can see clearly see the style of play and why Stam has brought in who he has. There were areas of the pitch covered which hadn't been covered with such good interplay for quite some time. FB's and Widemen did very well and swift got between the lines a few times, it was good to watch.

A great big oxf*rd you to the fans shouting 'forward' today and groaning - I guess we'll always have them in the crowd.

We almost got caught once or twice; but we created some good chances ourselves. We could; and should have won by more.

For those who felt they can't see how it would fit together I guess you did today - We looked a far more organised unit than Preston and broke far more effectively.

Early days but plenty of postivies to take from that. Most enjoyable day at the Mad Stad for some time.

Impressive 1st half then it fell away 2nd half-badly in the last 20 minutes or so.

You could at least discern what system Stam was trying to operate & in the 1st half it worked really well & we should have been 3 up. Lets hope the falling away in the 2nd half was down to fatigue and the heat-it was bloody hot.

Al Habsi: 6 One great save and most of the time comfortable with being on the ball so much-couple of rickets however 2nd half.
Gunter : 6 Usual mixed bag-bit of finesse at times would help Chris?
Obita : 6 Pretty good-lets hope he is not out for long.
McShane : 5 Bit scruffy at times defensively.
Joey : 7 First time I have seen him-looked a lot safer than Cooper .

Evans: 6 Tidy on the ball, @ the moment does not have Norwood's class-but of all Reading's front six-kept going right to the end.
Swift 6: Great training ground goal-but missed a good chance & faded badly 2nd half.Great 1st half however & much more progressive than Norwood.
Williams 7: Just about the best all round game I have seen him play. Zilch protection from a very poor Ref.

Macca 7: Makes a difference when he is fully fit.
Denis 4: Missed two good chances. We have to find a striker from somewhere-but it won't be easy-saw Beckford's name on the PNE team sheet & thought this should be interesting-but he was just awful.
Roy 6: Was looking forward to see him play-but couldn't get into the game-the odd nice dynamic piece of play however.

Watson 5: Looked very inexperienced & overawed-but these are early days in his career.
Kermit: Looks slower than ever.
Harriot 6: I think I will reserve judgement on him-but at least he's not short on confidence.

PNE: Typical Chumpionship Side-battled hard, but no flair & no strikers-they could however easily have nicked a draw.
Ref: Lousy. If a player is going on goal & he is dragged back-then it has to be a yellow card to stop him doing it again. Otherwise the game becomes a farce.

The Stadium announcer got a few things wrong & what FFS was that Stam cartoon about at the end of the game.

Have to say I'm glad I didn't go to the game you watched !
But then we all have opinions ....

Just to pick up one comment, I thought Watson looked very relaxed and comfortable, used the ball well, got forward and if he was selected to start the next game I don't think it would be an issue..

And just to pick up on another, I thought Evans looked excellent. Hit some passes that were at least on a par with what Norwood offered but also did lots of work as well. Not sure what Norwood would have added if he'd been there instead of Evans.

How good does it feel to win a game?
Both sides missed sitters but it was a decent game on a sunny Summer afternoon in Berkshire and the traffic wasn't too bad coming up from the coast.
Having seen a bit of Swift last season playing further forward for Brentford I was surprised to see him playing more or less as an orthodox midfielder but it worked even if Rekels had little support.
Both wingers IMHO were good and great to see GMac showing that he can still do it and on his day is one of the best wingers in the Championship.

Good imagination from those involved in the goal and the new players all showed promise.
Some ratings:-
Al-7
Gunter 7
McShane 7
Van 8 (mainly for an outstanding first half)
Obita 7
GMac 8
Evans 7.5
Williams 7.5
Swift 8
Beerens 7.5
Rekels 5

Although ball retention was probably a bit over the top it was understandable as Rekels offers no option in the air and surely should only play alongside another bigger striker.
The squad seems to be taking shape but we clearly need another target man with hold-up skills.

A good start-I suspect with this line-up we might struggle physically in midfield against better sides but with Watson and Harriot looking o.k. it was a good day all round with the Dolan tribute pitched just about right.

First half, Preston just sat back and allowed AAH to play the ball out without pressing the receiver. In the Adkins era this would have resulted in several places across the back 4 and then an aimless punt upfield and possession being lost.

Instead today we moved them around and worked space to pass forward with purpose. We worked a number of opportunities down either flank but no one could get meaningful contact to finish. Obviously the goal was an exception to this with a corner being played in along the ground for Swift to steer into the top corner, a well worked move off the training ground but a very poor goal to concede.

Preston were more positive in the 2nd half and passed us further up the pitch which resulted in one or two dodgy moments but Reading fans are going to have to understand what the team are doing rather than shouting for the team to get it forward.

In the end we rode our luck and a better team would've punished us but really should've been 2 or even 3 up by then.

I was impressed with Evans and all 3 of the wingers but Swift was my motm, linking up well and breaking into the box. Also Watson looked good when he came on. Raakels isn't a lone front manand, he kept trying but didn't help himself by missing a sitter with their keeper laying down at his feet.

All in all though I was very encouraged by the performance and if we carry on in the same way our games will at least have excitement which is something that's been lacking for a few seasons

A calm and assured performance. We need to do better in the final third, but we'll keep picking up points if we play like that every week.

Special mentions to Williams, who probably had his best game in a Reading shirt, and Watson, who looked perfectly comfortable.

Very encouraging performance, especially first half. Some good link-up play down both wings.

Nicely worked goal. Obviously from the training ground, including the blocking of defenders to give Swift the space to score.

We still need a proper striker to bury the sort of chance that Denis missed.

The new respect laws seemed to work quite well. The only time the ref got a bit of pressure (when he was booking Evans?) he very quietly also booked their no.3. Long may that continue.

Swift excellent, Williams MOTM, Gunter looking a cut above too (whoever it was above who wasn't impressed by him has it very wrong).

Gunter and Obita were pushed very high and McShane and VDB were pushed extremely wide. That will catch us out at some point, but that's ok if the offensive benefits outweigh it.

There was a Norwood hangover. The hole he normally stood in to recieve the ball off the CBs was just empty today. McShane is never going to be an 'on the ball sort of guy', and looked very uncomfortable today. Not convinced by the centre backs.

Beerens grew into the game, first half he was exciting without being effective, but he turned that round.

Harriott's introduction was overshadowed by the goings on between the PNE fans and out lot. Don't know what started it, looked like a bunch of Preston fans getting behind the screen. It was pathetic for adults to be involved in this sort of thing either way. Lol at the topless North End bloke who went to vault the barrier only to have underestimated the drop and to plummet the 15-20 feet onto concrete. I hope he broke something.

Let's not get carried away but this is a different Reading team and it shows bags of promise. The pre-season games showed that Stam wanted us to play a passing game and that was evident from the match today. Optimism must be tempered by the memory of Steve Clarke's Reading making a similarly impressive start to last season but, somehow, this feels different. Maybe it's the lack of so many loanees; or maybe the presence of a manager who seems to have a plan?

The first half in particular was a joy to watch - quick and incisive inter-passing up front and a desire to play the ball out from defence on the grass. The players, too, seemed to have the desire to get in positions to be able to receive the ball. In particular Gunter, McCleary and Williams played so much better (and more effectively) than they had done last season. The newcomers also played their parts with Swift showing some deft touches and, of course, a great goal. Beerens and Berg did well too and Harriott looks like a great signing from his brief cameo.

On the negative side we missed chances. Rakels was guilty of missing a free header in the first half and a comparatively simple 'dink' over a fallen Lindegaard in the second although, overall, he played pretty well. Obita had played well, I thought, until he had to limp off and we can only hope it is nothing serious. His frustration was there for all to see. We also seem to overplay the ball in defence with the inevitable dangers from which PNE almost profited on two occasions. A better side would have punished us.

I had been expecting a tough start to the season as Stam struggled to instil his style of play into the team. But what I saw was encouraging. Three points and a clean sheet and a confident looking side. Fingers crossed!!

Quick note on the Dolan tribute. It was emotive, certainly tugged on the heart strings, and a nod to the Preston players and fans for being an active and respectful part in it. I heard that some of the fans even brought a banner in support. Nice that Watson got his debut. Very fitting.

Nice that Preston presented flowers to Mrs Dolan just before ko.

The huge picture on the outside of the former North Stand is mightily impressive.

What a game and what a performance!

It's definitely a work in progress. They will make mistakes and they will lose some games but things are certainly moving in the right direction already. I wasn't expecting Jaap to have got a performance like that out of them after just a month on the training ground.

If he can get them to that after a month then the future looks very bright indeed.

The first half was the best I've seen a Reading team play for a couple of years. It was clear that Stam is trying to instil a Holland/Man U style of play.Pass the ball around, keeping possession, then only break when the opposition defence are out of position. I could hear,as has been said above, that people were calling for the ball to be lumped forward. Why? Keep possession and use the ball properly when you can. In the second half, PNE used their size and strength trying to intimidate us. It nearly worked on occasion, but we deservedly held on to win. That's not to say that we didn't attack in the second half, we did! But if we are going to play with wingers, who put in good high crosses, we need a big 'target man'. Unfortunately, Kermorgant isn't that player.

The defence didn't give me as many kittens as they did last season; the midfield was excellent, the attack lacked something. Rakels didn't play badly, but he was in the wrong position. Evans was brilliant as were Swift,and McClearly, Joey VDB was what we missed last season. He's a tough CB (at least he was today) and you could see the PNE players were frightened of him, not because he was going to thump them (although he did on a number of occasions, but because he just robustly stopped them. Williams was my MOTM.

It is obviously very early in the season, and things may go wrong, but I feel that there's something about this team which wasn't there in the in the last couple of years and it's really quite exciting!!

I don't know who PNE's youth manager is, so enormous respect to their players and fans for wholeheartedly giving their applause for Eamonn Dolan. on both occasions it was asked for.

Agree with first para.
We looked good. Patient but attacking with speed and purpose when there was an opportunity
Thought new boys (starters) were all impressive as were Evans and Williams
GMac had a real spring in his step as well

Major disappointment for me was Rakells.
Think he looks slow to react in the box. Should have been on the end of four or five chances not just the two obvious ones.
This looks the real weakness of this team especially if Kermogant is next in line.
New or loan striker please

I agree with you but your RFC related mood swings are a thing to behold.

Do we know if that is intended to be permanent or not? I'd love to see it permanent; it looked great and is so fitting of a named stand. I arrived expecting to see little more than a sign and saw a gigantic image of his face... Fair play, Reading, that's pretty cool.

Great start best first half performance for a long time.....very encouraging , lots to give us all hope

VERY promising.

The first thing to say (IMO) is we played so intelligently. Preston tried to close us down in the first 15 minutes but they were clearly using too much energy. Hard to explain but this possession seemed miles better than the boring possession under Rodgers.

There were a few very good moves, the players looked like they'd played together for a good while so the future looks very promising. We missed a few half-decent chances first half but the finishing will come. One move second half opened Preston up but Rakels managed to hit the keeper. TBF to him he is not a number 9 and was up against two big centre backs all day.

At kickoff the two CBs were miles apart and the FBs pushing up. Almost all game McShane seemed to be very wide. Not sure what was going on there but I'd be worried about a really slick, fast attack. Early days of course.

First half Williams was on fire. He was still running down blind alleys but was managing to bounce the ball out. VG half but long term I would still prefer a midfielder who played more as a team player.

Gunter, Williams and McLeary worked extremely well together (making the remark above sound odd) and McLeary was beating his man often. Gunts was much MUCH less negative, and apart from a couple of misplaced passes in the first half was solid.

Obita played very well up to his injury and partnered well with Beerens. It was nice to see both wingers able to skin players with skill. Not sure who was the third person working with Obita-Beerens. It might have been Rakels or Swift, occasionally Williams but the left side LB-LW-Another worked as well as the right side.

Rakels was given a tough job as the lone striker. It's clearly not his ideal position but he plugged away. Did one step-over that deserved a bigger reward and missed a great chance second half but I think he could still be a solid striker, just not as a 9.

I was expecting van de Berg to be a disaster but thought he was EXCELLENT, a character, classy. If we buy a top CB he ought to play in front of the back four but I wouldn't want to drop any of today's midfield.

I thought George Evans was very, very efficient, solid throughout, hardly ever gave the ball away and made some excellent passes a la Norwood. Personally, I think he will become a better player than Norwood. He needs 40 games and we will be worried about keeping him

McShane was McShane. There were a couple of times I thought he was outpaced but he managed to keep the player out.

Swift looks like a very decent player. He took his goal well but it was sucker-defending. If I haven't mentioned him much it's partly because I struggled to recognise players.

El Habsi made one very good save when we over-indulged with the passing and gave the ball away for a Preston player (Johnson?) a free run at goal. He made one other VG intervention late on.

But frankly, we had 82% first-half possession, 80% overall and were utterly dominant. We "deserved" 2-0 (at least) at half-time, and over the whole game we probably deserved 3-0. Preston had a go for 10-15 minutes after HT, and the last 6-10 minutes (six minutes of extra time) but they never really looked like scoring. I was expecting their strike force to be better.

They (Preston) didn't look a great side but not relegation fodder, either. This was a good Reading win and I feel way more optimistic about the season now.

SUBS: Tennai looked very decent, and slotted in OK, and though his cameo wasn't very long the little winger Harriot looked excellent and very very good cover for Mcleary. Quick, can beat a man, loads of confidence.

It occurs to me that he could play wide and McLeary in attack (Number 10). He did that a bit for Forest and scored four goals in one game from that position.

I copied some of this from the in-game thread but would like to add, please don\t write of Rakels. No way is he a number 9 and it's not really fair to judge him when he's played as the target man. Strikers miss chances, no big deal. His minutes per goal is still excellent.

I would say that had we had a conventional big fast CF yesterday, one who was a 20+ a season man, we would have won in a canter.

The SKY highlights make it look like Preston made a game of it but it's a very false impression.

The best, most intelligent game I've seen RFC play for quite a while.

Good game. Came away relatively positive and happy. We were lucky though as they were gifted a couple if chances that a decent side would have put away.
Other than that though we played some really good stuff, loved the wide play, new players looked really decent, scored a great goal, and got a clean sheet. A decent start and something to build on.

Al habsi usual stuff. 7
Gunter usual stuff. 7
Mcshane usual stuff 7
VDM a tank, actually pretty decent 7
Obita decent 7
Evans quietly effective, neat tidy and and solid 7
Williams decent 7
Beerens looks good, got a trick, goes past people with pace 7
Mcleary decent 7
Swift. Some nice touches, worked hard, cracking finish 8
Rakels cost me 120 quid with that miss second half, but made a nusiance of himself. 6

Watson. Slotted in nicely 7
Harriot. Good addition. Pacey,direct.7
Kermo usual stuff, didnt get much of a chance 6

Shows promise.

Not the finished article. Still have that depressing failure to finish teams off and Rakels really is not a central striker.

Preston fans are worried as they reckon we won't amount to much this season and they've just lost to us.

Desperately calling out for another centre back and a left back. One hopes that the club stop messing about over Liam Moore and just bite the bullet like you have to sometimes.

Williams was MotM. If we can get him playing like that every game then we might be worried if goes.

Swift looks pretty damn good as well and with Harriott, Beerens and a rejuvenated McCleary we might actually have some wingers to worry defenders at last.

For the first time in ages actually looking forward to the next Reading game and by the end of this month we should know whether this was just a fluke against a poor team or whether there's actually something dangerous starting to stir in the depths of darkest Berkshire.

I noticed we were keeping 3 up when PNE attacked, occasionally McCleary would track back but Beerens never did. He's going to have to work a bit harder than he did against better teams.

PNE tried to close us down in numbers to the point it looked like they were sheep following the ball, that left a lot of free space when we managed to pass around them.

We also seem to of had a disaster in corporate hospitality sales, around 70% of the boxes were empty, it's a good job Lady Sassima wanteda double hospitality box. Advertising was just as bad, there were no adverts at all on West stand.

Great result and very enjoyable listening. 80% possession shows how well our team played. I like Rakkels but we really need another striker to make it all count.

Thanks for the comments all who were there. Moore seems to be the right transfer priority now so hopefully that gets tied up this week.

For those who have paid more attention of late, do Mendes or Meite look like the kind of player that would take hold of the no. 9 role and have an impact once match fit?

Always hard to judge the strength of the team when so many of last years squad have left but the club seem to have done a better job of signing decent additions who will make an impact in the future, like Evans, rather than filling the squad with experienced backup (but let's not start them long term) players. Also the first time I've seen us achieve the right balance between bringing in good young talents from other teams and still bringing through our own into the senior squad.

Does anyone know a listen again link to the radio Berkshire commentary for yesterdays game?

Really enjoyed yesterday. 1st time in nearly a year where I've come away with a good feeling about this team.

All the new players looked good which is massively positive. Really impressed by Swift AGAIN and think with Beerens & McCleary on either wings that we will caused teams massive problems.

So many players also to come back from injury (Samuel, Mendes, Quinn + Meite when he is fully fit) and add in new signings and there is so much promise in this squad.

This team will only get better with time as we are playing a new system with new players so patience needed but there is so much potential with this group of players.

Evans will be a far superior player to Norwood.

He will be an excellent excellent player.

Yep. My thoughts,too