JAAP Stam hailed the spirit in his injury-hit Reading FC side after last night's 1-0 win at Birmingham City.

Royals chalked up a third straight Championship victory thanks to John Swift's 77th minute strike at St Andrew's to leave them third in the table and five points off leaders Brighton.

And Reading's 12th win in 16 league games came at a time when Stam's resources have been severely stretched due a glut of injuries.

Paul McShane, Yann Kermorgant and Joey van den Berg were all missing last night after picking up fresh knocks, while club-record signing Tiago Ilori faces up to six weeks on the sidelines after damaging ankle ligaments last week.

In addition, Callum Harriott (hamstring) and Stephen Quinn (knee) are recovering from long-term injuries and won't be returning for a while.

As a result, Stam's options were limited last night so he was forced to pick a team without a recognised striker once again, with Garath McCleary, Roy Beerens and Swift switching up front.

He also shuffled his defence around, playing Chris Gunter in a three-man back line, with midfielder Danny Williams plugging the gap at left-back.

But Stam's players rose to the challenge as Reading kept their first clean sheet at St Andrew's in 12 attempts and inflict the latest blow to under-pressure Blues boss Gianfranco Zola who is still yet to win in 10 matches since replacing Gary Rowett in December.

Stam beamed: “We were missing a couple of players that normally play through injury.

“The ones who stepped in and played, and certain ones like Danny Williams – who wasn’t playing in his favourite position – did a great job.

“It was tremendous – it means a lot for the team and for us. You could see the players are very committed to doing well.

“They did it very well – and they did it together. I'm not only talking about the back five but also the midfield players and the strikers.

“Eventually by doing that, and in combination with the quality that you have, you get these results.”

Reading had a number of chances to score before Swift broke the deadlock, with Liam Kelly hitting the crossbar in the first half and McCleary also going close.

Blues also threatened through Lukas Jutkiewicz on several occasions while substitute Greg Stewart was denied a late equaliser by a vital save from Ali Al-Habsi.

But Reading held on for another victory that enhances their promotion credentials.

“I’m very happy, it’s a great result over here,” added Stam. “It wasn’t easy, Birmingham have a new manager and the rain made it difficult too. “We created a couple of very good chances in the first half and should have scored. You know they are going to have chances as well, but they didn’t score either.

“Overall, we defended with a lot of passion, everyone was very committed.

“In the second half we got the goal by Jordan Obita going through and delivered that ball to Swifty and after that we stuck in there.”

While Reading's season keeps getting better – Stam signed Lewis Grabban, Reece Oxford, Jordon Mutch and Adrian Popa before last night's transfer deadline – Blues are stuck in a rut and have slid down the table since the controversial decision to axe Rowett and bring in Zola.

And the Blues boss was furious with the treatment he received from travelling Reading fans who sang 'One Gary Rowett' towards the end of the match.

Zola told the Birmingham Mail: “I was expecting a little bit more class from them.

"They haven't been very nice to be honest, but it's okay. I understand they like to give stick and I would like one day to be the one giving stick as well.

"It wasn't very nice, I think you can win the game with a touch more class than they had, but it's okay."