Dave Jones has praised the efforts of the club's young professionals that took part in Tuesday's friendly at Reading.

Danny Batth, Ashley Hemmings, David Davis and Sam Winnall all played a part in the game whilst keeper Aaron McCarey was an unused substitute.

"It's a big step for them but Danny put in a good performance at centre-back," said Dave.

"He had good experience last season at Colchester and now he's pushing on and the other lads who came in did well too.

"They've been training with us in pre-season and playing games will only give them confidence.

"They will get to know us better and feel more comfortable with us which is important because I think we've got some good quality among the young pros.

"I think if they work hard and not get fazed by playing in decent stadiums against decent opposition alongside first-team players, I'm sure that will help them this season and make them grow more as players."

Dave scored Wolves' consolation goal at The Madejski Stadium as Mick McCarthy's men slipped to their first defeat of the pre-season.

He added: "Before Reading, we'd had three wins from three games and so to lose put things in perspective as to where we're at in terms of pre-season.

"I think we've got a few more levels to go through until we're firing on all cylinders but the Reading game was definitely a good workout for us.

"Now with the season drawing closer, we've got a few more games like the Reading one which is what we need.

"I'm sure people will see us putting in better performances as time goes on.

"Maybe against Reading there were a couple of misplaced passes at key moments which I think we'll sort out in the next couple of weeks.

"We'll get better. For example, the Reading game was the first time I'd played with Adlene since last season because he's been away at the World Cup.

"Adlene looked sharp and when Steven Fletcher and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake came on in the second half with me, I thought we looked good.

"Sylvan's looking sharp - he's looking like a man possessed - and we know Fletch has got quality.

"So it was good to get on for 45 minutes."