Royals news round-up

A round up of all the news concerned with Reading Football Club over the past couple of days.....

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Royals defender Michael Hector has returned early from his loan spell at League One outfit Shrewsbury, after being told he is not part of their first team plans. The 20-year old will now play with the reserve squad, but is still technically registered with the Shrews, meaning he could still yet play for them this season.

The Reading youth academy team will either play Brentwood Town or Brentford in the third round of the FA Youth Cup, which was drawn yesterday. Eamonn Dolan's side are on a fine run in the under 18 league, winning five consecutive games in a row.

On the topic of youth, striker Dominic Samuel has been selected to play for the England under 19s for the first time in his career. The prolific striker has been scoring constantly for the under 21 side and has also trained with the first team in recent weeks, also receiving notable praise from Brian McDermott.

Impressive goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is becoming highly unlikely to feature in this Saturday's crucial game with Norwich at the Madejski Stadium. The former England under 21 keeper injured himself in the dying seconds against QPR last week after colliding with the post. Scans have been inconclusive, but does not look good for Alex.

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