Jayden Wareham sends message to "unbelievable" Reading FC supporters | OneFootball

The striker enjoyed a landmark evening against Exeter City

Reading striker Jayden Wareham has paid tribute to the club's fans, after a memorable night for the 21-year-old in their 2-1 win away at Exeter City on Tuesday.

A boyhood Royals fan, Wareham initially started out in the club's academy, before leaving for QPR in 2014.

After a subsequent stint with Woking, the striker joined Chelsea in 2021, before being released two years later without making a first-team appearance for the Premier League side.

That then saw him return to Reading, where he has started to become more heavily involved in the first-team this season in particular.

Indeed, Tuesday night at St James Park saw Wareham reach another milestone in his fledgling career with the club.

Jayden Wareham gets his first Reading league goal

Prior to that clash with Exeter, the striker had made 15 first-team appearances in all competitions for the Royals.

In that time he had scored once, in a 3-1 win over West Ham Under 21s in the EFL Trophy earlier this season.

Against the Grecians though, Wareham was handed his first league start for Reading, and wasted no time in making an impact.

With less than a minute on the clock, the striker received the ball just inside the area, and showed good feet to turn into space and fire a decent finish into the bottom corner.

Michael Craig then doubled the Royals advantage before half-time, and although Ilmari Niskanen pulled one back after the break, Exeter could not find an equaliser.

That ensured Reading hung on for a 2-1 win, their first away win of the campaign, and one that Wareham clearly enjoyed, not least the backing of his side's supporters.

Taking to X after the game, the striker wrote: "First league start. First league goal. 3 points. Roll on Saturday thank you to the travelling fans support was unbelievable as always."

Following that win, Reading now sit seventh in the League One table, only outside the play-off places on goal difference.

Ruben Selles' side are next in action on Saturday afternoon, when they welcome Bristol Rovers to The Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Having signed an initial one-year deal with the Royals when he returned in the summer of 2023, the club took up the option to extend Wareham's deal by a further 12 months this summer.

As a result, the striker's current deal with Reading is due to expire at the end of this season as things stand.

Reading fans will love Jayden Wareham impact

It is hard to imagine there will be any supporters of the Royals who did not enjoy Wareham's goal, and their side's win, on Tuesday night.

There is a sense of relentlessness right now to the uncertainty that continues to hang over Reading amid the ongoing search for a new owner that continues to threaten the club as a whole.

Despite that, the performances of Selles' side on the pitch this season, and results such as this, are at least bringing some source of respite and joy to supporters of the Royals.

The fact that on Tuesday, one of their own in Wareham made such a significant contribution to that success, may make it just that extra bit more special.

As a result, Reading fans will surely be keen to see more of that from the striker in the months to come.

Given how well he took that goal, it would certainly be no huge surprise if he did deliver on such hopes and expectations.