Reading went out of the League Cup in the first round after Paunovic opted to protect his slim first team squad by playing an academy side. The inclusion of George Puscas prevented the side from being a complete set of academy product players. Whoever is in charge of adding names to the academy board at the Madejski Stadium reception is going to have a busy job this week. The average age of players who were involved was 19 with six players making their first team debuts and an additional two players making their first start for the first team.

With Swansea making just five changes to their line-up and mixing youth with experience the result was probably never in doubt before the game kicked off. There were no surpises at the away side dominated the fixture and went away with a three goal victory after being a goal ahead at the break.

Puscas was the old man in the line-up at the age of 25 but was ineffective with his only real effort on goal coming from a free-kick that was comfortably saved. Meanwhile Luke Southwood in goal could be pleased with his efforts making a number of good saves to keep the score down. The Royals saw Abbey leave the action with 15 minutes left to play at 0-2 due to injury and with three substitutes used we finished the game with ten men and only conceeded one more.

There are already signs it could be a tough season for the Royals. It would take a brave person to bet on Reading going up this season - but will it be a relegation battle? You can visit novibet.co.uk and bet on the team.

Reading Team and Ages:

Luke Southwood: 23
Lynford Sackey: 18 (first team debut)
Tom Holmes: 21
Nelson Abbey: 17 (first start)
Tom McIntyre: 22
Claudio Osorio: 18 (first team debut)
Kian Leavy: 19 (first team debut)
Dejan Tetek: 18
Kelvin Ehibhationham: 18 (first team debut)
Mamadi Camara: 17 (first start)
George Puscas: 25

Substitutes used:

Michael Stickland: 19 (first team debut)
Ethan Bristow: 19
Jahmari Clarke: 17 (first team debut)