Tom McIntyre is coming of age in a Reading shirt

Reading-born Tom McIntyre played a starring role in his side’s 2-1 win over Luton Town yesterday afternoon, to continue his development this season.

The 22-year-old netted his first goal of the season in the win over the Hatters and has made eleven appearances in all competitions for the Royals so far this season.

The defender joined the club’s academy all the way back in 2008, as a ten-year-old but has struggled to fully breakthrough at the club but made a real impression yesterday.

He was, however, only in the side because of an absence to Liam Moore, who is a key part to the Royals’ defence but he did his claims for a regular starting berth no harm with not only the goal but his performance as well and with it coinciding with a return to winning ways, it could lead Veljko Paunovic to give the youngster more opportunities moving forward.

There weren’t too many league opportunities for McIntyre last season, featuring just ten times throughout the campaign, half of which came after project restart which underlines that the youngster is becoming more and more important to the club with much of his recent pitch time coming since football resumed in June.

Paunovic praised the scorer of the first goal in his post-match press conference and was impressed in the way in which he went about it, he also hinted that McIntyre could be set for a long spell in the team with Moore suffering from a stress fracture on his metatarsal.

“It was a beautiful goal and very well executed. It was a prepared set-piece and I am so happy for him.

“I know how long he’s been at the club and he is practically the club’s child. It was very important for him.

“He had been waiting a long time for his opportunity and it came today. He had to play in a different position but he had a great memory and most importantly I think he was very solid defensively.

“Liam has a stress fracture of his metatarsal so he’s going to be [out] for quite some time.

“But he’s a very strong guy, very positive and he is recovering well. We are looking to beat the predictions of the weeks he is expected to be out.

With the news which the Reading’ boss revealed after the game yesterday, it really does give McIntyre a great opportunity to further his worth to the side having performed so admirably in the game yesterday.

Due to the nature of him having been at the club for so long, the 22-year-old will be desperate to make a string of strong performances to put pressure on those around him and with the games coming thick and fast he’s got a real opportunity to make a name for himself amongst the absent Royals’ supporters.

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