Reading Under-21 manager Noel Hunt insists the club are aiming to recapture Category One Academy status "as fast as we can."

After more than a decade with the highest level of Academy, the Royals were demoted over the summer to Category Two- meaning they drop out of the PL2 league and into the Professional Development League.

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Despite the obvious disappointment with losing such prestigious awards, the former striker believes it is improving his players more so than in the PL2 division.

Speaking after his side's 2-0 win over Burnley on Monday, the former Republic of Ireland international said: "We all want to be Cat 1, but I think it’s a really good thing for our boys. The games are more direct and more league realistic, they don’t try and play out from the back all the time they will play what’s on and it’s more like the Championship. For our boys it’s a great education to go into league football.

"We want to get back to Cat 1 as fast as we can, so we haven’t dropped our standards, in fact I think we’ve heightened our standards. Gilksey has been fantastic since he’s been back, in the Academy now we’re getting things back in place. Covid and the financial situation has killed us a bit in terms of where we’ve ended up but more people are involved and have been hired."

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Hunt, who took over from Mehmet Ali as youth boss in the winter, confirmed post-match that the club have already submitted their re-application for Category One, with an audit taking place at any time across the year to evaluate.