Reading manager Leam Richardson praised the “fantastic finish” of Paddy Lane as the winger’s second-half goal clinched a 1-0 home victory over Leyton Orient that moved the Royals into the League One play-off places.

Home skipper Lewis Wing squandered a first-half penalty – his second spot-kick miss of the season – but Lane struck in the 52nd minute to push Reading into sixth position.

“The lads really worked hard for that,” Richardson said. “In the first half, I thought that we started the game tremendously well. I was disappointed that we were not in front at half time.

“In the second half, though, we had to really work for it. But our goal was excellent, from a structural point of view out of possession and then in transition. And the finish [of Lane] is fantastic.

“We then, at times, probably played for the result a little bit. It looks as though Orient had a lot of shots but I can’t really remember Joel [Pereira] making that many saves.

“It was a lot of the lads in front of him who were making all the blocks. I felt that we were relatively comfortable in that situation.

“As we well know at this level, you have to finish teams off.

“I felt that we could still catch Orient on the counter. If we had looked after the ball a bit better, then maybe we would have done.

“But we had something to hold on to and human nature tells you that you’ll drop five yards deeper than what we’d like.

“It’s what I’d call a hard-working 1-0 win.”

Orient stay in 12th place in the division.

“We shouldn’t have lost that, no chance,” O’s head coach Richie Wellens said. “I thought that, at times, we were very good.

“In the first half, we lacked any real penetration. The amount of times we got past their line in midfield and then we didn’t make the right decision and end up with a shot.

“And when their keeper [Pereira] has pulled off a double save [from Fin Stevens and Dane Scarlett], we should really be scoring.

“I thought that we responded well to their goal and we dominated the last 30 minutes. In fact, I thought that we dominated a lot of the game.

“We should never be losing it and maybe we should have had a bit more of a ruthless streak about us and our front players need to produce more with the opportunities that we had.

“I’m really pleased with the performance but we shouldn’t be leaving here with no points.”

Aaron Connolly could have equalised near the end, when Pereira’s attempted clearance fell straight to him, but his lob towards the empty net drifted harmlessly wide.

“Aaron should have side-footed it,” Wellens said. “Or even take it a touch closer to the goalie, who was out of his box so he couldn’t handle it.

“In that scenario, you just need to be ruthless. Again, that’s something that we need to add to our game.”