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"It was a pleasing result off the back of the week we had," he said. "We lost the Swansea game at home which was disappointing and then one goal beat us at Bristol City on Tuesday. So this was a big, big win.
"I know there are goals in this team and today proved it. And to come out today and play the way we did was fantastic. I could sense, without reading or hearing anything, that some people might have written us off today. But we showed great character.
"There was great shape to our team, we looked really organised, and it could have been more than four in the end.
"The results earlier in the week didn't make it more difficult for us today. Psychologically you don't feel great about life between Tuesday and Saturday, but that's life.
"I've been in football long enough to know that there will be disappointment. But it's about how you bounce back and we certainly did that today.
"At 3:00 p.m., when the game starts, whatever is in the past doesn't matter and that's what I say to the players. Even if we'd won the previous game, it doesn't affect the next game.
"All you can do is concentrate solely on the job in hand and I think we made it up to the fans who went to Bristol on Tuesday night with the win and performance today."
Speaking about Jay Tabb who returned to the team unexpectedly when he'd been ruled out with injury, McDermott added: "Jay played that role just off the striker and I've always known he can play there, and he was excellent.
"He not only did a good job going forward, but he was excellent defensively and he did a job on their holding midfielder Cork who gets on the ball a lot. He made the first goal and he's a class act. The role seems to suit him.
"The balance in midfield was good. The back four's shape was good. We threatened in wide areas and, in Shane [Long], we had someone running away from their centre half all the time.
"Their results here suggest they're a decent side and we've come here and won 4-0. It's a great day today."
Brian Laws was about as happy with referee Nigel Miller as the fans but he was quick to point to the fact that it was not Miller who had played badly in a claret and blue shirt.
"We have to be totally honest with ourselves and say we weren't good enough today. I have to give credit to Reading because they came and did a job on us," Laws admitted.
"However, I thought we had so many performances below par. You can carry one or two, but when it's half the team you have a problem. It certainly wasn't anywhere near the level we can reach."
Moving on to referee Miller, he added: "There were too many things I could associate with the referee's performance today and the fans are not stupid. They know about the game and they know when a referee has had a good game and a bad game.
"It's easy for me to say he had a bad game, but our performance didn't deserve anything today. I can use the excuse of the referee because I thought it was a diabolical performance, but I think half of my team were worse than him, and that's hard to do.
"Our key players were snuffed out. We were looking for a spark and it just wasn't forthcoming from anyone."
One decision from the referee, Laws confirmed he had no complaints with, and that was the red card shown to central defender Leon Cort who will now miss the game at Aston Villa.
Laws concluded: "Hopefully it's a blip and we have to go and start another run now."