“I’m really proud of the lads in there tonight,” said the manager after Carlton Morris’ 19th goal of the season pegged the Royals back after former England striker Andy Carroll had given them the lead early in the second half, before being sent off for picking up a second yellow card.

“I know the sending off changed the game to give us probably then complete domination and control, they still obvious retained a threat on the counter attack, but I felt with 11 men, especially in the first half, I thought we were really good, really dominant, had loads of control.

“It was similar to Saturday, we were really building up and it looked like the goal was coming. We created some really big chances, unfortunately we couldn’t get one before half-time.

“The goal we conceded, Andy Carroll’s been doing that for years, at the highest level as well. There was a little block, he gets away and we conceded from a corner. It’s something for us to look at and be better from, but the lads, they just never give up, never give up.

“I’m really pleased with everyone out on the pitch, but then the changes really gave us a fresh impetus and some new ideas, a little bit more creativity in certain aspects of the pitch.

“It was a great cross from Bez, Eli was really brave and Carlton was in the right place at the right time, so a fantastic equaliser.

“We went in search of the winner, couldn’t quite get it, but I think it’s a great night for the football club, I really do. We’ve guaranteed a play-off spot with three games to go.

“Of course we wanted to win the game, we’ll still keep our foot down and try to keep winning every game, but we’ve got to celebrate this as well tonight.”

Edwards vowed to keep pursuing Sheffield United in second, but will treat the final three league matches as play-offs in themselves as Town jostle for position, first with Middlesbrough and then Blackburn on the next two Mondays.

“We’ll still keep fighting and going for it, we have to while it’s still mathematically possible. There’s two things – we want to keep our momentum and we want to keep people fresh and fit. That’s what we’ve got to do, so we’ve got to find a real good balance to that.

“But we’ve got some fantastic games coming up now on consecutive Mondays, and I’ve just said to the lads in there now, we want to treat them as play-off games. They are.

“This is Middlesbrough coming and they are going to be there, Blackburn as well. So these next couple of games, let’s treat them like that. Let’s get the atmosphere going on Monday night. I’m sure everybody will be looking forward to it. Let’s have an early taste of the play-offs.”