Reading picked up a first win since February against pointless Cheltenham Town, lifting some of the gloom around RG2, picking up a scrappy 1-0 win.

After Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Port Vale, manager Ruben Selles trusted youth as he made seven changes and put out a squad with an average age of just 22. The game was short of real quality or chances, but the passionate youngsters made their supporters proud and battled to the end to seal a first league win of the season.

Starting out with a point to prove, it was a fast and frantic start from the young side. Despite pressing high and looking to win the ball back in an attacking phase, the final pass was missing and most of the game was played in a busy midfield. It took nearly half an hour for the first shot on target, with Lewis Wing forcing former Royal Luke Southwood into action and diving across to palm an effort away. The newbie, making his home debut, did the same shortly after as Southwood remained the busiest of the two between the sticks.

David Button, making his home debut, had just one nervy moment in the first half where Tyler Bindon’s back pass was dangerously close to nestling in the net, ending with an unforced corner. The hosts finally made their dominance count shortly after as teenager Caylan Vickers picked up the ball and drove at the penalty box. Evading two fouls in the process, he attempted to thread the ball to Harvey Knibbs, but the outstretched foot of Will Ferry looped the ball over Southwood and into the back of the net. The visitors’ best effort came from a Reading corner, countering quickly into the attacking half, but the recovering Abbey stepped in and calmed the danger. Reading had a three-versus-one of their own on the stroke of half-time, with Vickers, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and Charlie Savage on the edge of the box. Ehibhatiomhan fed Vickers, who should have done better with his effort- which went out for a corner after a save from Southwood.

While the hosts dominated the first half, it was all Cheltenham in the second half as Reading seemed content with defending their lead as opposed to adding to it. Amadou Mbengue, the player with the most professional appearances in the Reading side, gifted possession away early in the half and Wade Elliott’s men countered, needing Abbey to block Street’s effort out for a corner. With their tails up, the Robins cut in from the left on the 25-minute mark, only for Street to fire wide. The final 20 minutes, with another 10 for stoppage time, was a high-intensity mess of half-attacks and stoic defending as neither side carved open their opponents.

Experienced heads Andy Yiadom, Tom McIntyre and Sam Hutchinson came on to see the game out as the youngsters continued to press with a speed and fearlessness that their older teammates no longer have.

The near 9,000 in attendance let out an almighty roar just before 10 pm as the Royals picked up their first win for 15 league matches, leaving Cheltenham pointless and goalless in the bottom half of the table. From pointless to unbeaten, Steve Evans’ Stevenage are the visitors to Berkshire on Saturday, sitting in the top-six after their League Two promotion last season.