READING FC boss Jaap Stam hailed his players' resilience following their hard-fought victory at Rotherham United.

Rock-bottom Millers put up a stubborn and physical fight at New York Stadium in front of new manager Kenny Jackett on Saturday.

But Stam's men dug in their heels before Paul McShane's 86th minute winner secured a first victory in five Championship matches.

Rotherham – who remain rooted to the bottom after a seventh straight defeat – proved hard to break down and relied on the trademark long throw of former Royal Greg Halford to unsettle the visitors' defence.

The ploy worked until four minutes from time when McShane's spectacular volley finally broke Rotherham's resistance.

"It was quite stressful." admitted Stam. “It wasn't easy, they made it very difficult for us in the direct way they played.

"Every ball they had, they threw into the box. They took the time to clean and dry the ball – and then throw it into the box, they were basically like crosses.

“They’ve got a very physical team and when they throw it in there you never know where it might end up. It was difficult for us to defend.

"We're not the biggest side, we're not the most physical side. So teams know they can play like that against us.

“Ali Al Habsi had to make some good saves and they dropped in to restrict us. But we were patient on the ball and in the second half they got tired and we created some good chances to score.”

Al Habsi was outstanding between the sticks, denying Joe Newell, Jon Taylor and Halford before the break.

The Oman international also produced a stunning reflex stop to keep out a Richard Wood header from Halford's dangerous throw-in in the second half before outfoxing Danny Ward when he was clean through on goal.

But Reading began to make their superior possession count – only to see Lee Camp save Garath McCleary's 60th minute penalty after Joey van den Berg had been tripped by Dael Fry.

John Swift then rattled the Rotherham crossbar with 11 minutes to go to compound Royals' frustrations.

However, McShane popped up with a dramatic late winner to seal a much-needed victory for Stam's men.

The Reading manager added: "You see the very top teams often get a lot of possession and play against teams who drop in.

“In that scenario, you need to wait for that moment for the opportunity to create that bit space and then create your chance and maybe score a goal.

"If you keep possession spaces start to open up. We got a penalty, we hit the crossbar, we could have had a couple more. Eventually they got tired.”

The Dutchman continued: "You never know how a team reacts to missing a penalty - of course everyone is disappointed when it happens.

“But we’ve seen in previous games that even if things don’t go our way, we keep on going. And this team kept going, they wanted to go forward.”

McShane started the game on the bench after recovering from injury, but he was thrown on with just 28 minutes gone after a tactical change by Stam saw Liam Kelly hauled off on his full league debut.

It proved to be a masterstroke as Royals skipper McShane went on to net the winner with his second goal of the season.

"Paul gives everything for the team,” declared Stam. “He’s working very hard and he always wants to have the right result.

“He got that ball in front of goal, controlled it, took his time - like a proper striker - and smashed it in.

"We’re very happy with the result and what was a very important goal for us.

“All the teams are so close to each other in the table, so it’s important to get the win – or else you can end up dropping down."

Reading take on Arsenal at the Emirates in the EFL Cup fourth round on Tuesday night (7.45pm ko).