Royals posed a serious threat going forward but also looked shaky in defence and had to settle for a point from the televised six-goal thriller.

Adkins’ men led from the 19th minute when Michael Hector headed home his first senior Royals goal.

But the home side found themselves 2-1 down after ex-Royal James Henry and then Lee Evans scored for Kenny Jackett’s visitors.

Jake Taylor notched his third goal of the season to make it 2-2, but Nick Blackman looked to have gifted Wolves the victory when he headed into his own net with only six minutes to go.

However, on-loan Crystal Palace striker Glenn Murray salvaged a draw for the Royals with a deflected strike in the 89th minute.

And Adkins admitted there is plenty of room for improvement from his players.

“We’ve played against a very good side in Wolves,” he stated. “We talked about that before, about how good they are in possession of the football and that they had only conceded three goals all season.

“We wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to press them, get the ball and keep better possession. We’ve got ourselves in front but we weren’t really comfortable, because Wolves had too much of the ball.

“Credit to the players, because they hit back and got something from the game. But we have to have better control of the football, and Wolves did that very well.”

Wolves had scored a mere eight goals in eight games prior to Sunday’s fixture, though they had only conceded three times.

And Adkins stressed: “We scored some good goals and it was an entertaining afternoon. We ebbed and flowed against a good side that lead the percentage league for possession.

“Maybe at times we were not as crisp as we would have liked when we kept possession, but we got better as the game went on.”

He added: “The second goal was outstanding. It’s something we’ve worked on in training with Dean Wilkins. We got into pockets and it was a great finish from Jake Taylor, a perfect goal.

“The players have had to dig in deep. Wolves got promoted last season and have started the new season very well, so they’ve got momentum.

“We would have liked to have won another home game, as we always do. We will respect the point we got, but it was a good game of football.”

Reading now face back-to-back away fixtures at Leeds United this Wednesday (7.45pm ko) followed by Brentford this Saturday (3pm ko).

And though Adkins knows his players can improve at the back, he is heartened by his side’s attacking options.

“We have got goals amongst our team now, which is great,” he declared. “We have also got players coming back from injury, the youngsters stepping up, a squad that all want to do well and I want us to play football.

“I’d like to think people can see what we are trying to do. For me there are a lot of positives moving forward, definitely in the long-term but also in the short-term.”