JAAP Stam told of his joy after Reading FC secured third place in the Championship table heading into the festive period – but then admitted it will be tough to stay there in the New Year.

Royals claimed a thrilling 3-2 victory at Blackburn on Saturday thanks to an injury-time winner from George Evans.

Stam's men are now four points clear of Derby County in seventh and eight points behind second-place Brighton, with back-to-back home fixtures against Norwich City on Boxing Day (3pm) and Fulham on Friday, December 30 (8pm) up next.

"Hopefully Christmas gives us some presents as well,” beamed Stam.

"It's nice to be up there and of course we want to stay up there as long as we can, but it's not going to be easy.

"We are not a team who think before the games that we are going to win every game.

“It's a tough league and we know we have to be at the full 100% to get results. But it's always nice to win away.”

Reading travelled to Blackburn hoping to end a run of successive away defeats at Fulham and Leeds United during which Stam's side conceded seven goals without scoring.

While their defence looked leaky once again, Royals packed enough punch to score three times and gain the club's first ever win at Ewood Park in nine attempts.

Reading led twice during a lively contest, with Dominic Samuel giving them a 32nd minute lead only for Danny Graham to level eight minutes later.

Liam Moore put the visitors back in front on the hour after Liam Kelly's thunderbolt had smacked against the bar, but West Brown's contentious equaliser in the 73rd minute looked to have earned Rovers a point.

However, Evans gave Stam an early Christmas present by sliding the ball past Rovers keeper Jason Steele two minutes into injury time.

Stam, whose side enjoyed 64 per cent possession, said: "It was a fantastic result. We started the game well, earned ourselves time on the ball and took the lead with that goal from Dom.

"We wanted to keep possession, keep passing it and go for a second, but instead we got sloppy, lost the ball too quickly and they grew in confidence.

"They got the ball forward into their strikers a lot. With the physique they had, they caused us problems and both their goals were from headers.

"We are not the type of team who plays that sort of football, but we have to deal with it and defend those situations better.

"It was important that we stayed calm, kept control, used the space we were getting and kept going forward. We controlled the game a bit more in the second half.

"Of course we were very happy at the end with the goal George scored. During the game, you want it to be a bit easier and there was a lot of tension on the touchline. But it was a great to get the win."