A natural goalscoring forward, Friday was also unselfish and would take just as much pleasure out of setting up a goal scored by a teammate as netting one himself. He possessed fine ball control and dribbling skills, and could also shoot with both great power and sharp accuracy. The strong physical aspect of his game and exceptionally competitive, combative spirit combined with all of this to create a formidable forward player: such was his ability that his arrival transformed Reading into one of the division's best sides in a matter of weeks. Writing in 2010, Roger Titford stressed Friday's immediate and profound impact on the Reading team as a key factor in his lasting popularity: "It was like the comic-book stories that kids from Robin's era would have read", he wrote. "He was a ready-made star".