Quest pundit Ian Holloway lauded the performance of Danny Drinkwater during Reading’s 1-0 win against Middlesbrough in the Championship.
Royals racked up their third win on the trot thanks to Alen Halilovic’s second-half goal on Saturday lunchtime.
Drinkwater, who arrived in Berkshire at the end of August on the penultimate day of the summer transfer window on a season-long loan from Chelsea, was named for the first time in Reading’s starting 11.
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It came after his impressive cameo off the bench during the 2-1 win at Fulham the week before.
The 31-year-old played another starring role for Reading, dictating the play from the middle of the pitch as the hosts sealed a narrow win against Neil Warnock’s side.
Holloway, the former QPR, Leicester City and Blackpool manager, said it was great to see Drinkwater back playing after a number of frustrating loan spells in recent years.
“He was absolutely brilliant,” the 58-year-old said on Quest’s EFL highlights show.
“I’m glad he’s got himself going again because life can be very difficult, particularly when you’re as good as Danny is.
“It’s great to see him out on a football pitch passing the ball.”
It was a hugely significant appearance for Drinkwater, who completed a senior league game for the first time since March 2018 when he was playing for parent club Chelsea away at Manchester City.
Since then, he had loan spells at Burnley, Aston Villa and Turkish outfit Kasimpasa before making the move to Reading last month.
The former Premier League winner with Leicester City had to wait a couple of weeks to get up to speed but is already starting to prove his worth with Reading now on a three-game winning run.
Drinkwater came on as a 20th minute substitute for Tom Holmes in the Fulham win just over a week ago and caught the eye with his vision and awareness in midfield.
He followed that up with a similar showing against Boro and is now becoming one of the first names on Veljko Paunovic’s teamsheet.
Reading face back-to-back away games next, at Derby County on Wednesday night before travelling to south Wales to take on Cardiff City on Saturday in the final two games before the next international break.
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