Reading boss Noel Hunt has confirmed that defender Amadou Mbengue is to miss 'six to eight weeks' with a knee injury.

The popular defender missed New Year's Day's win over Cambridge with illness but returned to feature in the 0-0 draw with Charlton Athletic last week.

Not involved in today's 3-1 defeat to Burnley in the FA Cup, Hunt has confirmed he is to miss a period of time with a knee injury.

"Amadou suffered a knee injury in the Charlton game which we didn’t know about until Monday- he didn’t feel anything until late on Sunday. He was one of the ill ones this week and when we scanned it, it showed up. He’s going to miss six to eight weeks."

The Royals pushed Championship Burnley all the way in the FA Cup Third Round, with Clarets star Zian Flemming coming off the bench to score twice and win the tie in extra time.

"I’m very proud of the lads, pushing a top Championship side with loads of quality and international experience," Hunt told the media. "Some of them have more international experience than we have league appearances. We took a top team all the way to extra time, and I think tired legs got us in the end. We have a lot of boys coming back from long-term injury and fighting illness, which we tried to keep quiet, but I’m proud of some of our performances.

"It took us a little bit of time to believe that we could go toe-to-toe. We got a fortunate break where we could speak to them for a few seconds and tell them where we could jump in a little bit more aggressively and make it more our game. The boys took it to them well, so I’m really pleased in how we controlled spells of the game. The discipline to hold the pockets, our full backs not being fully fit, I’m really happy.

"You’re bringing on the top forward in the Championship- Flemming has been outstanding this season. We have Manu coming on at 17 and Tyler Sackey in a different position because they have to do it for the team. I think they all dug deep- Ashqar coming on- and they gave a good account of themselves. We don’t want to get beat, I hate getting beat and it makes me feel sick, but there has to be a context to it and a logical look at it from a footballing side and I’m pleased with how a lot of our players performed."