Returning Crawley Town defender says Reading point 'could be vital' come the end of the season

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan gave the Royals a 1-0 lead at half-time after a lapse in defence from the Reds. Despite dominating the second half they created few chances and had to wait until the 90th minute to get the equaliser through Panutche Camara.

And Mullarkey, who played the centre of the back three in the absence of the injured Dion Conroy, played a big part in the draw.

It still leaves Reds second from bottom, but the former Grimsby defender believes it it could be a crucial point come the end of the season. “Games like this at this time of the season are always going to be tricky,” he said.

" We’ve got to try and take emotion out of the games and play it like any other league game, which is tricky because of the position we are in. I have had the experience of being in these sort of positions before and the big thing, like I say, is trying to take the emotion out of it and play the way we know we can, which I think we did in spells.

"Their goal was disappointing but apart from that they didn’t have many other chances compared to what we did, especially in the first half.

"We take the point, frustrating because it could have been three, but it could be vital point come the end of the season.”

Mullarkey was out for six weeks due to a back injury and only had one training session before his return to the starting XI. Mullarkey said: “If you think too much about it it can go the other way. Being thrown straight in after one training session after being out for six weeks actually helped. It’s helped not having too much time to think about it.

"My legs were a bit gone towards the end of it. It felt normal to be back out there and I found my feet quite nicely.”

Being out for a such a length of time was a tough period for the 29-year-old. He said: "Probably only those closest to me that know how much the injury has been affecting me. I played pretty much until I could and then it was just a case of I had to tap out and do what I needed to do.

“So to get back out there again was really nice. Obviously not being able to play is mentally quite tough, but you know, I'm lucky and fortunate that I've never had too many injuries to deal with in touch wood, it doesn't happen again. But like I said, just delighted to be back out there and I think we've got 11 games to play now, so we'll treat them all as cup finals and see where we end up.”

Reds are back in action on Tuesday when they host Charlton Athletic at the Broadfield Stadium.