PAUL McShane admitted Reading FC keeper Ali Al Habsi was the real hero of their 1-0 victory against Rotherham United at New York Stadium.

The Oman international made a succession of brilliant saves against a pumped-up Millers side desperate to impress new boss Kenny Jackett.

He denied Joe Newell, Jon Taylor and former Royal Greg Halford before the break, then produced a stunning reflex stop to keep out a Richard Wood header from Halford's dangerous throw-in in the second half.

Al Habsi also outfoxed Danny Ward when he was clean through on goal before Reading began to turn their superior possession into scoring chances against the division's bottom club.

And after a Garath McCleary penalty had been saved by Lee Camp and John Swift had rattled the Rotherham bar, McShane popped up with an 86th-minute winner to secure his side's first Championship win in five matches.

However, the Royals skipper admitted: “I don’t know why but we start second halves really bad, and that has got to stop.

“We’ve spoken about it at half-time before, but it still happened. We began the second half really poorly and that can’t happen every game.

“We’ve got to give credit to ourselves because we weathered the storm a bit and there were some great saves from Ali Al-Habsi.

“He kept us in it a couple of times with a save from a header and a couple of one-on-ones.

“That’s what he’s there for and he’s great at making world-class saves that kept us in the game.

“We went and got the winner but it is really important to weather those storms and stay in the game.”

McShane's goal was his second of the season after finding the net in a 2-2 draw against Brighton in August.

The Republic of Ireland defender, who missed the previous two matches through injury, fired a superb volley past Camp after the Rotherham keeper had saved Roy Beerens' initial effort.

McShane admitted: “I thought Roy’s shot was going in, but the goalkeeper got a hand to it.

“I thought I’d take a touch and hit it with a volley – and thankfully it went into the roof of the net.

“I knew that it was dropping and I knew not to take it first time. It was good that I did take that touch, I think if I’d taken it first time I’d have hit it out of the stadium.”

The win moved Reading back up to eighth in the Championship table and only one point off the play-off positions.

McShane added: “It’s always a nice feeling to score a goal, and to score the winner is a bonus.

“To get the three points and the clean sheet was the most important thing.

“Looking at the league table, it keeps us in touch with the top six and stops that run of games where we were picking up draws and lost against Aston Villa. It was an important three points.”

Reading travel to Arsenal tomorrow night for an EFL Cup fourth-round clash at the Emirates (7.45pm ko).