The Royals conceded another last-minute goal to lose ground on the playoffs after a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Lincoln City at the SCL on Easter Monday.
Lincoln scored within the first five minutes through Ryan Oné. Lewis Wing netted a rocket to make it 1-1 in the 92nd minute, but the Imps went on the attack again and made it 2-1 with a 96th-minute goal through Jack Moylan to seal their promotion to the Championship.
The defeat leaves us in eighth, two points off Stevenage in sixth. Here is what
Reading boss Leam Richardson had to say. He spoke to Royals TV.
Richardson on the defeat
“In times like this, you have to have a lot of humility. We will start by congratulating Lincoln. Consistently, over the season and today, you can see why they have been promoted. Congratulations to Michael, his staff, players, the captain and the fans.
“Days like this, being on the other side of the fence and listening to the players and fans, it will drive us on and give us fire in the belly. We have to develop an edge in the dressing room to move forward.
“It is important that we have humility and are gracious in defeat and when you win. We have to be mindful of where we are at, as a football club and as a team. When we came in, we were looking over our shoulder with the reality of falling out of this league.
“Today, the goals sum up where we are at. They were pathetic. We concede a free-kick early on against a team who want to throw it in the box, we lose the first duel and have to be better. We then lose another duel in the middle of the pitch on transition.
“We had 70% possession in both halves but probably had control without an edge or intent. We have to make sure we have an edge. Our forward players have got to be mindful of their role in the team – how many shots, crosses and goals they have had. We have to be collectively better.
“Michael was appointed two-and-a-half years ago, five or six windows. They are averaging 100+ games per player in this league; our average has just dropped below 30. You can see where we have to go.
“We have to find the edge. At the minute, this football club is nice, but you don’t win anything by being nice. We have to find an edge from somewhere and that is my job.”
Richardson on looking ahead and the end of the season
“We will all hurt for the next 24-48 hours but you have to turn that hurt into real drive. You have to use it and thrive after that.
“We have 12 points to play for; this is the part of the season we love and why I worked so hard when I came in and making a functional team with clarity to try and climb the table to now, trying to find our edge and extra last step.
“Today we lacked that, and in the last five minutes on Friday we lacked it. If you look at our last three goals [conceded], that’s not for me and why we are not a nailed on top two, top three or top six team at the minute.
“That is why I am here. It is my job to look at all staff and all players. We have been in decline for too long at this football club. We are starting to go up that hill. It won’t be as fast as people want it to be, but we will get there.”
