Garry Monk says Middlesbrough’s season starts now after the perfect away performance confirmed a first league win in over five weeks.

Reading’s under-pressure manager Jaap Stam had questioned the Boro manager's “defensive way of playing”, so this was the ideal response as his team claimed their first victory since edging past QPR in mid-September.

Britt Assombalonga proved the difference, winning a 14th minute penalty - converted calmly high into the net by captain Grant Leadbitter - before nodding in the second from Jonny Howson’s wicked centre.

Satisfied Monk called Assombalonga “relentless” as the forward helped ease the pressure and gave their season a much-needed reboot.

“It was a very important win for us, there’s no disguising that,” said the Boro boss. “We haven’t had a good period, there’s no hiding this, and there has been a lot of talk about that. We needed to get a win.

“It was a really good, solid away performance from us. We’re very honest and say that some of the performance lately haven’t been good enough, but some games have been marginal.

“To a certain respect, the season can start now and we can go to Hull in midweek and look to add to this.

“There has been a bit of criticism coming my way which I accept, but it was about stripping in back a little bit. This result typified what we needed to do - we were very good defensively and we were clinical when we needed to be.

“The offensive part of me wants to go on the attack, but we need to strike the balance. I don’t think I’ve been getting the balance right over the past five or six games.”

He did at the Madejski Stadium to heap the pressure on Dutchman Stam and lift Boro up into top half of the table.

They were up and running inside a quarter of an hour as captain Leadbitter made no mistake after Joey Van Den Berg clumsily fouled powerhouse Assombalonga inside the box.

Reading tried to respond straight away. Sone Aluko carried the ball forward with purpose but his shot didn’t match his burst.

The Royals had picked up just one win in eight, while Boro were winless in six,but the visitors’ bid to get back to winning ways was enhanced midway through the first half when Reading centre-backs Liam Moore and Tiago Ilori clashed heads.

The Portuguese defender was carried off on a stretcher and it meant a complete Reading reshuffle. Martin Braithwaite tried to take advantage, running at Stam’s reshaped backline, but his tumble in the box was not worthy of a penalty.

Stewart Downing was the next to threaten when cutting in from the right but went nearpost when he should have crossed it.

Sam Smith, the hosts’ debutant striker, flashed a header wide with half-time approaching put it was as powderpuff as his side’s performance.

They weren’t much better after half-time. John Swift made Darren Randolph work for the first time with his low 67th minute effort and Reading had most of the ball until Boro broke.

Assombalonga was the right man in the right place and exactly the right time no nod home Howson's superb cross. Already it was game over.

Daniel Ayala almost added a third when his header was cleared off the line and substitute Marvin Johnson should have scored ten minutes from the end, but took too much time to settle himself and allowed former Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone to come and smother his shot.

Reading’s best chance came late on as Aluko’s fine volley was pushed around the post by Randolph to confirm what we all knew long before - Boro were back to winning ways.

Despite Stam’s dig about Boro’s approach, there is little doubt that Monk did what was needed to get the team’s season up and running.

“We stripped in back a little and went back to basics,” the Riverside manager said. “It was a result we needed and it can kick start things for us after a bad run.

"Everyone saw what it means to the players, they were great for us. It’s not been an easy time but we worked really hard and stuck to our game plan.

“We were back at it, we were back to ourselves and we deserved what got.

"We want to show what we’re capable of. There’s nobody more determined out there than we are to give our supporters, who travelled in their thousands again, what they should be getting after a really difficult season last year.”