Reading suffered an injury to Femi Azeez to compound the disappointment of their 2-0 loss at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

The 20-year-old was a shining light of the club's difficult start to the season, scoring twice in the first four games of the campaign when the Royals picked up just three points before getting injured. Azeez's return was a huge boost to Veljko Paunovic's squad but the young gun has sustained another frustrating knock.

Paunovic explained his concern over Azeez's injury when he spoke to BerkshireLive.

He said: "Just the nature of the reaction and how he (Azeez) reacted indicated it was a hamstring injury. It's the same leg and typically it doesn't look good for a couple of weeks at least."

With a potential points deduction thrusting the Royals towards the relegation zone Reading need a bit of luck when it comes to injuries. Their squad depth is not ideal as it is and therefore an injury crisis would only exaggerated their shortcomings.

Paunovic's men had won five out of six before having a week to forget and Azeez's injury will only put more stress on the youthful second string. There were four teenagers on the bench at Ewood Park who will be hoping to follow in Azeez's footsteps to make a successful jump to first team level.

The Verdict

Reading coped with the loss of Azeez the first time, largely thanks to the services of Junior Hoilett who is now also injured, it will be interesting to see how Paunovic shuffles the pack to deal with the absence of both players.

Reading host Bournemouth and travel to Millwall and Birmingham City before the next international break to which during they will not want to be looking over their shoulders.

There is a ten point gap between the Royals and the bottom three at the moment, they have enough quality in the final third to cope without Azeez and continue to make the best out of a bad situation.