FORMER Nottingham Forest duo Garath McCleary and Chris Gunter came back to haunt their old club by firing Reading to a 2-0 victory at Madejski Stadium.

McCleary fired Royals in front in the 10th minute then turned provider for his best pal and ex-Forest teammate just after the hour mark.

Neither player really celebrated out of respect to their former employer and the 1,800 travelling supporters sitting in the south stand.

Gunter at the very least could have been excused for losing himself in the moment as this was only his third goal in 183 games for Reading since his £1.5 million move from Forest in 2012.

Nevertheless, it was a day for Royals fans to savour as Jaap Stam's men recorded back-to-back Championship victories to move up to fifth in the table.

Stam made two changes to the side that won at Rotherham in the league a week earlier.

Tyler Blackett returned in place of Jordan Obita at left-back, while skipper Paul McShane, who scored the late winner at New York Stadium, came in for Liam Kelly.

Royals boss also resisted the temptation to keep young striker Dominic Samuel and full-back Tennai Watson in his starting line-up despite their impressive displays in Tuesday's EFL Cup fourth-round defeat at Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Forest arrived on the back of one win in nine matches, losing the last two.

The visitors had struggled for consistency after using 64 players this season ans failing to keep a clean sheet in any of their 17 matches.

Manager Philippe Montanier tried to shake things up by changing formation to five at the back and handing a debut to Joe Worrall alongside ex-Royals skipper Matt Mills.

But after a sluggish opening, Forest's defence was breached with just 10 minutes gone.

John Swift had plenty of time to line up a 25-yards effort which Vladimir Stojkovic could only palm straight to McCleary, who calmly drilled in the rebound past the embarrassed Forest keeper for his fourth goal of the season.

However, Forest would not lie down and they almost equalised in the 18th minute when Ben Osborn's shot was cleared off the line by Liam Moore.

Then three minutes later Blackett got a header completely wrong 10 yards out from his goal, only Forest couldn't take advantage as Osborn could only fire into the side netting.

Royals hit back midway through the first half when Blackett found space down the left and crossed for Danny Williams, but the USA international headed over when off balance.

But Forest should have equalised in the 27th minute when Osborn dinked a lovely ball over Reading's defence to Pajtim Kasami, but the Swiss forward headed straight into Ali Al Habsi's grateful arms when anywhere else would have done.

Reading, though, continued to carve open some decent chances and they went close to a second on the half-hour mark when Yann Kermorgant's angled volley from McCleary's flag-kick was headed off the line by Armand Traore.

And moments later Stojkovic made an excellent one-handed save to tip a Danny Williams piledriver over the bar.

Yet Forest weathered the pressure and could have levelled on two occasions before the break had it not been for Al Habsi's heroics.

The Oman international made a stunning, reflex stop to thwart Kasami and then flung himself through the air to keep out a 20-yard cracker from Eric Lichaj.

But after Kasami's finishing badly let him down early in the second half, Forest blew a gilt-edged chance to take the lead just before the hour mark.

A Williams clearance just outside the Reading area feel kindly to Lichaj in acres of space and with only Al Habsi to beat.

The Forest man took steadied himself and took aim, only to drag an angled-effort wide of the far post from 12 yards out.

It proved a costly miss as Reading doubled their lead in the 61st minute from the unlikely source of Gunter.

McCleary got free on the left and Gunter continued his run forward before guiding the ball past Stojkovic for only his third goal in 183 Royals appearances.

It knocked the stuffing out of Forest as Reading continued to push forward with Swift curling one over from distance.

Then came a bizarre incident in the 70th minute when referee Andy Davies awarded Forest a penalty after Williams tripped Henri Lansbury – only to change it to a free-kick just outside the area after consulting with his linesman.

And Royals compounded Forest's frustration by almost scoring on the break after Kasami's free-kick hit the ball, with a poor final pass from Williams ruining the move.

Reading dug in during the closing period and kept Forest at arms length for most of it.

And when they the visitors did put the ball in the net through substitute Brett Assombalonga, the linesman flagged for offside.

It was an impressive display from Stam's men, who played some attractive football at times and also showed plenty of steel in a feisty game which occasionally threatened to boil over.

And with Royals now in the play-off positions and looking up the table, the time has maybe come for them to be considered genuine promotion contenders.

Reading travel to Wigan Athletic next Saturday (3pm kick-off).