JAAP Stam spoke of the importance of today’s victory against Cardiff City in the Championship promotion race.

Goals from John Swift and Yann Kermorgant either side of a Joe Ralls penalty saw Royals secure a first home win over the Bluebirds since 2006.

It also sent Stam’s men back up to third in the championship tale and with an eight-point gap over Barnsley in seventh.

The Reading boss beamed: “We are very happy with every win. Given the position we are in now, it’s very important to keep winning games and keep the momentum going because teams around us are very close.

“We lost to QPR and Derby recently, but we’re doing okay and we’re still happy to be in the top six.

“We had seen Cardiff play a couple of time so we knew how they play. We knew about their qualities, they are a physical team and they worked extremely hard.

“They need points as well so from the start they tried to stop us from playing. They were very compact, wouldn’t give us any space and were very direct going forward.

“We’ve faced a lot of teams like that. Two weeks ago QPR came here and played the same way.

“We needed to play our best football and even though we didn’t always make the right choices, eventually they got tired and we began to create chances.”

Swift’s sixth of the season gave Reading a 42nd minute lead, only for Ralls to level from the spot three minutes later after Liam Moore had fouled ex-Royal Sean Morrison.

But Kermorgant clinched all three points with a superbly-struck free-kick on the hour mark for his eighth of the campaign.

Stam though, claimes the penalty was harsh on his side: “I didn’t think it was a penalty,” he argued. “I haven’t seen it back and I don’t know why they gave it.

“To me it seemed both were running for the ball, there was contact, the player went down and nowadays penalties are easily given.

“Cardiff also won a lot of free-kicks in the first half and I’m not sure they were the right decisions either.”

However, Stam also hailed his matchwinners and especially the part played by Garath McCleary in the opening goal, the Jamaica international cleverly back-heeling to set up Swift.

“We know Garath has that quality,” he stated. “It’s very important to be able to change your mind at the last moment and maybe play the ball back instead of having a shot.

“Even though he didn’t have his best game, it’s good that he can do that and set up somebody else.

“Yann has been so important to us this season and he also has the ability to score those free kicks.”

However, Stam was not happy with everything on the day and openly criticised the threadbare Madejski Stadium pitch which, he insisted, will be re-laid in the summer.

“As everybody knows, the pitch is not as good as we want it to be, so it’s difficult to play our football because the players’ focus is always on their first touch instead of looking where to pass the ball,” he argued. “That gives the opposition a split second to get closer to you.

“I’ve spoken to the club about it and we need a new pitch. They haven’t renewed it for a couple of years.

“It can also affect opposition teams who also like to play football, whereas others are more direct.”

Reading picked up another injury this afternoon after Joey van den Berg limped off with a suspected hamstring problem.

And Stam also confirmed new Liverpool signing Tiago Ilorii could be out for up to six weeks with ligament damage.

“Tiago has an injury and he’ll be out for quite a while,” explained Stam. “He came on against Fulham and his foot got stuck in the turf, he did one of his ligaments.

“It’s not completely ruptured but there is some damage, so it’s at least four to six weeks.

“It’s a big blow because we need him as somebody extra in defence rather than having Joey van den Berg there.”

Finally, Stam confirmed a number of clubs are showing interest in his players, with Southend United chasing Dominic Samuel.

“Some clubs have interest in our players,” he confessed. “We don’t know wat we can do when it comes to getting players in and out.

“There are several teams interested in Dominic Samuel and we need to make a decision about that.

“If you let somebody go you need somebody to replace him.”

Stam also confirmed Reading are close to signing Adrian Popa, 28, from Steaua Bucharest.

When the Chronicle asked whether Popa was joining, Stam replied: “Hopefully.”