Reading manager Noel Hunt wants his side to make their stadium a fortress

Reading manager Noel Hunt called on his team to make their home ground a “fortress” after the nervous 2-1 League One victory over Leyton Orient.

Jack Marriott gave Reading a first-half lead but, after Idris El Mizouni had levelled soon after the break, Liam Fraser struck a late winner.

The Royals picked up only their second league win of the campaign but their third in a row at home in all competitions.

“That’s three on the bounce here now and we’re trying to make this place a fortress,” Hunt said.

“We’ve got to make the new boys who’ve come in understand what that means and what it takes. I think that we showed that today.

“It wasn’t all one-way traffic, no way. Orient have got so many good players and we knew that sometimes they were going to have a bit of the ball.

“After the first 15 minutes, we were a little bit cagey and a little bit panicky.

“But once we had settled, I thought that we grew into the game.

“The first goal we scored was a very good goal, in terms of how we got our foot on the ball and our structure and our belief.

“We knew that we could go and play and make things happen. We also had to make sure that we cemented what we were doing, stayed compact and were hard to beat.”

Orient head coach Richie Wellens said: “It’s unbelievable how we lost. I thought that we were by far the better team, from start to finish.

“We concede a goal because we get our press wrong and it’s just happened too much, especially in our right full-back area. I’m not happy with that.

“If we get our press wrong, if we jump too late, we then don’t make a foul. And unbelievably, we’ve found ourselves 1-0 down.

“But, listen. All the things today that we can control, we were very good at. Our performance levels were really good.

“You won’t see many League One teams like that, really dominating the game. I can’t remember Reading having any sustained pressure in our half or in our box.

“The game got a little bit scrappy before their second goal and we didn’t track a runner from a simple run off the back of our midfield.

“And then the deflection went for him (Fraser).

“The deflections and ricochets today were just against us but we still should have scored a lot more goals and we should have won the game.

“You also have to give credit to Reading. They dug in and found a way to stay in the game.

”But if we continue to perform like that, I’ve not got too many worries.”