READING FC boss Paul Clement hailed his side’s fighting spirit in the 3-2 victory at Preston North End.

Royals clinched their first win of the Championship season after a rollercoaster afternoon at Deepdale.

Clement’s men were pegged back twice in the match when goals from Sam Baldock and Tiago Ilori were cancelled out by Daniel Johnson and Callum Robinson.

But the visitors stayed calm and got their rewards when Leandro Bacuna popped up with an 82nd winner.

Reading Chronicle:

Leandro Bacuna celebrates his winner at Deepdale on Saturday.

The victory moved Reading off the bottom of the table, and Clement admitted: "We haven't had too many wins for quite a while, so it's nice to have that winning feeling.

"It was a good, fighting performance and I'm delighted for all the players.

"We were 2-0 up at Blackburn and they came back to draw 2-2, so we know how that feels.

“It was really important that when it went from 1-0 to 1-1 and from 2-1 to 2-2 that we continued to believe we were going to win.”

Reading Chronicle:

Sam Baldock is congratulated by Yakou Meite after firing Reading into the lead at Deepdale.

Reading had collected a mere two points from a possible 18 going into Saturday’s clash, while Preston were searching for their first win since the opening day of the season.

Alex Neil’s hosts had already hit the woodwork before Baldock fired Royals ahead in the 23rd minute after excellent work from John Swift.

Johnson equalised eight minutes later with a shot that deflected off Liam Moore, Ilori restored Reading’s lead on 52 minutes from a Sone Aluko assist only for Robinson to make it 2-2 in the 76th minute.

However, Royals kept on pushing and secured the victory when Bacuna slotted home after being set up by substitute Josh Sims.

Reading Chronicle:

Tiago Ilori makes it 2-1 to Reading.

Clement added: "We had to work hard for it. It was a close game with very fine margins again, just like the first six games in the league.

“Fortunately, we were able to get those little details right and that saw us over the line.

"It wasn't the perfect performance, we conceded two goals and I can't say we dominated. What we did do was play in a very competitive game and we came out just on top."

Clement’s men will be hoping to climb further up the table by capitalising on back-to-back home fixtures against Norwich City this Wednesday (8pm ko) and Hull City this Saturday (3pm ko).