READING FC boss Nigel Adkins raised a glass to his ‘top drawer’ players after their hard-fought 1-0 victory at Huddersfield Town’s John Smith’s Stadium.

Adkins’ men bounced back from the previous week’s shock home defeat by Bournemouth to claim their third win in four Championship matches.

Billy Sharp struck the only goal in the first half on Saturday to seal a victory which sends Royals back amongst the play-off positions heading into the hectic festive schedule.

Adkins beamed: “I was pleased with our performance, I thought the lads were top drawer.

“We knew it would be a challenge but we kept a good clean sheet, scored a good goal through Billy Sharp and could have scored more.

“It was two good teams on the pitch and it was a well-deserved victory. We had a few opportunities and tried to be offensive in our mindset.”

Reading did not have it all their own way against the home side, who were a real threat but missed injured striker James Vaughan.

They also found Royals keeper Alex McCarthy in imperious form again.

One save from David Ward in the 37th minute was of the highest quality and prevented a certain equaliser.

Huddersfield also hit the woodwork in the 74th minute when Martin Paterson’s shot struck the inside of the post and bounced to safety.

But Royals, with fit-again Royston Drenthe making his first start for three months, defended resolutely to keep their second clean sheet in three matches on the road.

Adkins added: “We had a good resolve and togetherness. We had an impact off the bench, we used the full squad. We got more than an hour out of Royston, which was important.

“It’s another three points on the road, which is never easy. Huddersfield show the future of football in that they can adapt their formation in several different ways during a game, like we do.

“Like I say, I thought we managed the game well, and the efforts they had were long range shots. We’ve got an excellent goalkeeper who we expect to save everything from there.”

Reading return to the Madejski Stadium this Saturday to host Wigan Athletic before they travel to Leicester City on Boxing Day (both 3pm ko).

Adkins will now turn his attentions to the January transfer window when he will attempt to bolster his squad.

Adkins is eager to extend Sharp’s loan spell from Southampton beyond January, while talks to extend Chris Baird’s short-term contract are also ongoing.

Sharp is due to return to St Mary’s next month, while Baird’s deal is set to run out the middle of January.