Leigertwood praises midfield partner

Reading midfielder Jem Karacan has come in for praise from his central midfield partner Mikele Leigertwood, appreciating his immense work ethic.

Leigertwood, who scored the opening goal in the 3-1 win over Leicester City on Saturday, has formed a formidable partnership alongside the Turkey B international. Karacan lost his place earlier in the season as the side were on a bad run, but rightly won his place back in October.

The former QPR player told the official RFC website: 'Jem has been phenomenal. I was thinking 'where's he got his energy from?' Not only that, he's fantastic on the ball - he broke up the play well today and I would have been delighted for him to get a goal. We won though, and that's the main thing.'

Leigertwood also praised the performance of striker Noel Hunt. He added: 'I congratulated Noel - he's such a handful to deal with, in training he's horrible to play against because he works so hard. Today he was up against two of the biggest centre backs in the league, Bamba and Morgan, but again he was on hot form.'

The squad will now focus on tomorrow night's game against relegation-threatened Doncaster Rovers. If the Royals win, they will go above West Ham in second place and will be level on points with league leaders Southampton.

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