Reading's Yakou Meite draws praise following goal-scoring appearance three days after late father's funeral

Reading manager Mark Bowen paid tribute to Yakou Meite for his strength of character in playing in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Cardiff City only days after the death of his father.

The Paris-born Ivorian missed the midweek fixture at Nottingham Forest, but returned to score the equaliser in the fourth round FA Cup tie. After scoring, Meite displayed a T-shirt with “I love you Dad” written on it in French.

Bowen revealed that the 23-year-old midfielder had returned to training only on Friday morning, but wanted to take part in the game.

“It’s been a brutal week for him. He’s got a great bunch of team-mates around him, I’ve kept in contact with him all week, every day,” said Bowen.

“The funeral was Wednesday, but he made it clear to me after that that he would come back and he wanted to play.

“I’ve always believed that with footballers themselves, that’s what they love – being out on the grass.

“I’m hopeful the game has helped in that recovery, because it was a great goal and his dad was very close to him.

“He’s in our thoughts and he’s got people around him who care for him. We’ll give him all the support we can.”

Both goals in an energetic clash came within the first 10 minutes. Callum Paterson opened the scoring, before Meite levelled.

The game was marred by alleged racist chanting from Cardiff supporters and, midway through the first half, a public address announcement warned them they must desist.

Thames Valley Police confirmed that four male Cardiff fans were arrested for “alleged racially aggravated abuse” and had been released under investigation. Two of the four, aged 15 and 24, are from Caerphilly, a 16-year-old was from Abergavenny and a 21-year-old from Crickhowell.

Cardiff said in a statement: “We will be speaking with Reading FC, Thames Valley Police and South Wales Police – in attendance with our travelling support – to ascertain the facts of the matter.

“We will conduct these conversations with the relevant authorities before making any further comment.”

A Football Association spokesperson said it was aware of the allegations and would be investigating.

Reading were reduced to 10 men after Tom McIntyre was given two yellow cards, but the visitors were unable to capitalise.

Cardiff manager Neil Harris praised the performance of both Will Vaulks and Joe Ralls in the centre of midfield.

“It was a strong performance, I thought Joe was outstanding for 30 minutes,” Harris said. “It was a real shame to see him come off because he got around the pitch and broke the play up.”