READING FC striker Dominic Samuel made a dream loan debut for Gillingham on Saturday.

The 21-year-old striker scored just six minutes into his first Gills appearance on Saturday, having joined Justin Edinburgh’s side on emergency loan less than 24 hours earlier.

Not everything went to plan after Bury took a fourth-minute lead through Leon Clarke.

But Royals youngster Samuel equalised just two minutes later when he tucked home the rebound after Jake Hessenthaler’s effort had been saved.

Gills went on to seal a 3-1 win thanks to further goals from John Egan and substitute Emmanuel Osadebe as Edinburgh's side move to the top of League 1.

Samuel featured from the bench for the Royals’ first two games of the season, but suffered a knee injury just minutes after coming on in a 1-0 extra-time win over Colchester in the first round of the Capital One Cup in August.

Since completing his rehab, the striker has featured twice for the Under 21s, and notched an assist in a 2-0 win against Norwich U21s at the Madejski Stadium last month.

Royals boss Steve Clarke said: “Dominic had a really good pre-season with the first team, but picked up an injury early in the season.

“He worked very hard on his rehabilitation to get himself to a really good level of fitness, and now the next stage for him is to play competitive matches.

“He will get that opportunity at Gillingham, which will be good for Dominic, good for Gillingham and ultimately good for us.”

The striker enjoyed a successful spell at Coventry City last season, helping the Sky Blues beat the drop from League 1.

The youngster could now face his former club at the Ricoh Arena later this month before his loan deal is set to expire on December 10.

Gills boss Justin Edinburgh said: “We are delighted to have captured Dominic’s signature, he had a massive impact at Coventry last year in this division with six goals in 13 games.”

Meanwhile, fellow Reading youngster Tariqe Fosu made his loan debut for Fleetwood Town at Peterborough United on Saturday.

He stepped off the bench in the second half and made an immediate impact by setting up an equaliser for David Ball, only for Posh to go on and secure the victory.

In addition, teenager Hammed Lawal has joined Hampton & Richmond Borough on loan until December 12th.

Reading FC return from a fortnight’s international break when they host Bolton Wanderers at Madejski Stadium this Saturday (3pm).

Royals have not won in five Championship matches, losing 2-0 at Cardiff City last time out.

Boss Steve Clarke confessed: “We’ve stuttered. We have to come up with a way of playing that gets us back on the winning trail."