Jan's happy return

Our Under-21s fixture against Reading turned into the ideal platform for Jan Vertonghen and Etienne Capoue's return from injury on Sunday.

Etienne was heavily involved and Jan barely tested as we cruised into a 2-0 lead at Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium.

But it all changed on 41 minutes when Nabil Bentaleb was sent off.

Reading hit back in the second half and penned us back, levelling the score in the 67th minute.

Etienne had completed his 60-minute stint by then but Jan stayed on for the full 90 as Ruben Lameiras fired home for 3-2 and Kenny McEvoy secured victory in our final match in this season’s Barclays U21 Premier League.

“First of all, I’m very happy we won the game, that was important for the lads and we put a lot of effort in,” said Jan, back in action for the first time since picking up an ankle injury at Anfield on March 30.

“We had dominated but Nabil took a red card and it was difficult.

“We had to reorganise and Reading are a good team, they played well. They had the possession in the second half and we looked for the counter-attack.

“I was going to play 75 minutes but the lads were saying ‘only 15 more minutes’ and it was important to win the game, so I stayed on.

“I was impressed by our players, they are all clever guys, very good on the ball and very mature, all talking. I loved the spirit in the team.”