A bumper Madejski Stadium crowd saw goals from Hal Robson-Kanu, Garath McCleary and Jamie Mackie send Reading into the FA Cup semi-final for the first time in 88 years on Monday.

It was a night that promised so much and Steve Clarke’s side delivered against Phil Parkinson’s Bradford City to send the Madejski Stadium wild as Reading’s players wrote their names into the history books.

This is Gunter’s third season at the club and it’s been littered with disappointments so far including relegation from the Premier League before missing out on a play-off place on the last day of the season.

But Monday night had a very different outcome, with Gunter hailing it as his greatest success in a Reading shirt.

“To get to a semi-final is the best moment yet,” he smiled.

“It’s a big achievement to be in the last four of the FA Cup. It’s a big thing. We knew that if we imposed ourselves on them early on then it would be a terrific night for everyone involved with the club.

“It was a really good night and it was nice to see the stadium full in a season where the fans haven’t had a chance to cheer loads and loads.

“But now we’ve given them a cup run and they’ve got four of five weeks to enjoy it before we go to Wembley and try to reach the final of the FA Cup.”

Clarke’s players were cheered to the rafters by Reading fans as they secured their Wembley trip and a semi final against Arsenal.

The supporters answered Clarke’s calls for a more positive atmosphere and Gunter paid tribute to the noise created.

“Footballers feed off the crowd and the crowd feed off what they see on the pitch,” he said. “We knew it was a full house but we also knew we needed to start well. We did that and from there on the fans were always going to be noisy and they enjoyed it.

“It’s nice for us to give them something back and they really enjoyed it.

“Hopefully we can take a big following to Charlton this weekend and produce another good performance.”

The semi-final against Arsenal will take on extra significance for Gunter as he’ll be pitted against his former flatmate Aaron Ramsey.

The pair lived together in Chigwell when Gunter moved to Tottenham and Ramsey moved to Arsenal in 2009 from Cardiff City.

They have been good friends since a young age and will be reunited next week for Wales’ World Cup qualifier in Israel - and Ramsey will be looking for the latest news on Reading according to the Royals full-back.

“We meet up next week with Wales so I’m sure he’ll be asking a few questions about Reading,” joked Gunter.

“But there’s me, Jake Taylor, Hal Robson-Kanu so we’ll outnumber him next week.

“I’m sure there will be bits and bobs made of it all the way up until the game.

“It’ll be a good day when the semi final comes around, but there’s a lot of stuff before that, starting with Charlton on Saturday.”