Shrewsbury Town boss Gareth Ainsworth admitted he had a plan to quieten 'a couple' of players who Reading are 'heavily relied upon' in Tuesday's 1-1 draw.
A disappointing performance from the Royals, Joel Pereira saved John Marquis' penalty before Jayden Wareham opened the scoring in the first half.
Taylor Perry deservedly pulled relegation-threatened Shrewsbury level after the break, with neither side displaying quality to win the tie.
Ainsworth, who lives in Berkshire and spent over a decade with Wycombe Wanderers, spoke highly of the club and team in the build-up.
Believing his side were the more likely to win the tie, Ainsworth admitted that his plan was to nullify a couple of key Royals stars, a ploy which worked.
"They’re a side who rely heavily on a couple of players and if we can stop those players, which we had a plan to do, they can be quite tamed," he told the local media. "Having said that, they had their moments.
"They have some wonderful kids here. They had a 17-year-old on the pitch who is probably still classed as a minor, what a player he is going to be. Tyler Bindon with a big money move to Nottingham Forest and back on loan, Mbengue is a specimen that will go places, Kelvin looked very good as well.
"They’ve got some real good future here and you have to give credit to Noel Hunt for having such a young team and getting some good results like he has recently. It shows he is going to be a good manager."
Now without defeat in their last three, Salop are three points adrift of safety. Meanwhile, the Royals are unbeaten in three and sat ninth, three points outside the play-offs.
