Reading defender Tom McIntyre insisted he only has 'fond memories' of his debut against Rotherham United, despite suffering a fractured forehead in the 2018 clash.

Winning man of the match in the 1-1 draw against the Millers in 2018, then-20-year-old McIntyre required surgery and was ruled out for months.

Now 23 and with almost 65 matches under his belt, he returns to the scene for the first time with a crowd, appearing off the bench in 2020 during a behind-closed-doors win.

Speaking to the media ahead of the trip to Yorkshire, he said: "On the whole its happy memories. Although everyone remembers what happened that day, I only look back on it with fond memories. It was probably my favourite game of my career, my biggest game, at the time so I’m looking forward to going back."

The Scotland Under-21 international is still reminded of the event every day when looking in the mirror, his scar there for all to see.

As any strong centre-back would be, he loves it.

"I’m proud of it," he said. "It’s a battle scar. I’m used to it now, but I often get asked the question but it’s a quite a good story, so I don’t mind."

Fresh off the back of a 1-0 win over Cardiff City, the Royals are up to 10th in the early rankings.

Despite defeat on opening day to Blackpool, the Academy graduate is pleased with the returns so far.

"I think we’ve had a really good pre-season. Everyone knows it’s been better this year than it has in previous years, and I think although we didn’t get the result in the first week, the performance in the second half we probably deserved a bit more than what we got.

"It was a good win against Cardiff, a good continuation on the second half. We started a bit slow, and we need to improve on that, but the game as a whole we did really well. Last year towards the end of games we were under a lot of pressure and on Saturday we dealt with that really well."