The Royals picked up a fantastic 1-0 victory against promotion-chasing Stevenage at the SCL Stadium on Thursday night.
Charlie Savage scored the only goal of the game, in the fourth minute, to secure Leam
Richardson’s first win as Reading manager.
The win moves us up to 12th, five points off the relegation zone. Here is what Richardson had to say, he spoke to the official club website.
Richardson on the victory
“Plaudits go to the players. I take the pressure of the results, and they take the pressure of their output, availability and performance.
“I got dropped in on Wednesday, went into the FA Cup on Saturday and then under the lights on Thursday, so you’re picking a lot of pieces up and departments. I’m experienced enough, having been doing it for more than 15 years, so fingers crossed we have a bit of an imprint of what we are trying to do and I thought we thoroughly deserved the win tonight.
“We’re at home, under our lights in our stadium and our cauldron, so to speak. We needed to start the game properly and I thought we deserved the goal but then we had some chances where we possibly could have taken it beyond Stevenage and then controlled the game.
“The second half was a little more bitty and it petered out into an even game but fair play to Stevenage, that’s what they make you do. They make you try and play their game, and I thought the lads dug in and did the basics.
“We spoke leading up to the game, if you meet the challenge that Stevenage bring, our quality should shine through, and our one bit of quality has done.”
Richardson on Savage’s first goal of the season
“I was made up for Charlie. We worked a lot with Charlie this week and he is one of those players who wants to learn, a bit like a sponge he takes it in and wants to be better every day. He was in the right place, landed on the ball in the position that he should have been in and the quality is down to him. He is outstanding.”
Richardson on seeing out the match
“I thought we managed it a lot better and it is something we are aware of. We are a young team. Managers and coaches are only as good as their players.
“Fingers crossed this club will go forward and we will add some good players to this group we have already got because there is some talent in there, they just need that reassurance and belief.
“You can see where they are at emotionally and mentally in the last 10 minutes, but I thought they were in the right places at the right time and doing the right things, which is important.”
Richardson on Randell Williams
“I have a big thing about the squad. If I could, I would pick everybody in every game. The substitutes are so important at any level, they have to come on and either maintain what we are doing or raise the levels and I thought that everyone who went on the pitch tonight at a minimum maintained the levels and that is a minimum requirement that we expect.”
