STEVEN Reid is confident Reading FC will be among the chief promotion contenders again in the Sky Bet Championship next season.

Royals, tipped by many critics for relegation last season, finished third in the table under manager Jaap Stam only to lose to Huddersfield Town on penalties in the play-off final at Wembley.

However, first-team coach Reid believes the foundations for future success are already in place as Stam’s squad prepare to return to pre-season training at Hogwood Park on Monday.

The former Republic of Ireland international told the Reading Chronicle: “Football can be a cruel, cruel game. You could say we went the distance and unfortunately that’s what can happen in a penalty shoot out.

“Sadly we were on the losing end but we’ve got to take the positives out of last season and how far we’ve come in the space of a year.

“The aim is to remember the feeling of losing at Wembley to use as a positive going into next season.”

And the ex-Blackburn Rovers and West Brom star added: “Hopefully we can go one step further this time.

“There wasn’t much in the final at Wembley and at times both teams cancelled each other out. Huddersfield and ourselves are good footballing sides, there was nothing in it.

“It’s obvious that we are not that far away and on another day it would be us preparing for the Premier League and not Huddersfield.

“But that’s how it goes and we cannot dwell on what might have been because there is no time to waste.

“We need to concentrate on all the good parts from last season and try to iron out any problems.

“If we can do that and maybe add one or two new faces then I don’t think we’ll be far off again.”

Reading Chronicle:

Danny Williams and Steven Reid after the penalty shoot-out defeat to Huddersfield Town at Wembley.

The majority of the Reading first-team squad will check in for pre-season training on Monday – exactly four weeks after their play-off final defeat to Huddersfield. However, those players who have been involved in international fixtures recently such as Wales full-back Chris Gunter and Oman keeper Ali Al-Habsi will return at a later date.

The first week will include fitness testing and light training before Stam increases the intensity in the weeks that follow.

The squad will then head to Holland on tour from July 12-22 before playing a series of friendly matches in preparation for their opening fixture of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign against QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday, August 5.

Reid continued: “We’re looking forward to next season now. We only had a few weeks between the play-off final and pre-season so there’s no time to waste.

“Hopefully the lads have had a good holiday and will be ready to crack on from Monday.”