JAAP Stam believes Reading FC finally showed their true colours by beating Birmingham City 2-0 at St Andrew’s.

Royals clinched a first Championship victory on the road thanks to second-half goals from Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and substitute George Evans.

It leaves 11th-placed Reading on seven points from their opening five games heading into the international break, with Stam expected to sign more players before the club’s next fixture and also welcome back a number of injury victims.

Stam, who made Wolves midfielder David Edwards his sixth summer signing on Saturday, argued: “We deserved the win, we were well prepared for them and the players were committed and did their jobs in terms of possession, quality on the ball and the right movement at the right time.

“Of course, we can still identify areas where we can be better, but we created quite a few opportunities to score, didn’t’ give too much away and came away with a very good win just before the international break.

“We have been a bit inconsistent in the last couple of weeks, partly down to the injuries we’ve had, new players settling in and some players not quite there yet in what we need from them.

“But on Saturday you saw what we can bring to games if everybody is up for it - and if we do it well we can make it difficult for anybody.”

Reading squandered a number of opportunities in the first-half before Bodvarsson fired the visitors ahead on the hour with his first goal for the club following his summer switch from Wolves.

Evans then made the victory safe five minutes before time after combining with fellow sub Garath McCleary.

“At 1-0 up, you know the opposition are going to change things, press a little higher, play a bit more direct,” added Stam.

“So by making a substitution in midfield, with fresh legs, if you can come out on the break, you can hopefully make a difference.

“It paid off when George Evans came on for Joey Van den Berg. We came out with Garath McCleary and he scored that second goal which was a big relief for everybody.

“Everybody was together in defending the lead, so I’m very pleased with how we played both in and out of possession.”

Royals are poised to bring in more fresh faces before Thursday’s 11pm transfer deadline after Stam confirmed the club’s interest in Norwich City striker Nelson Oliveira and Fulham forward Sone Aluko.

Reading are also said to have had an £8m offer for striker Jordan Hugill turned down by Preston in the past week.

In a further boost to the squad, the likes of John Swift and Jordan Obita could be back from injury in time for Reading’s next league fixture against Bristol City on Saturday, September 9 – the first of five home fixtures during the month.

“August has been an extension of pre-season for us,” explained Stam. “We had a lot of injuries in the summer, a lot have had to come back and we’ve had new players who needed to integrate.

“Hopefully after these two weeks we will have more choices available to us in terms of the players who are fit and available for selection.”