The Royals picked up another point at home but were frustrated not to make it three after a 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town.
Reading had to come back the hard way after the Stags took the lead early in the first
half through Tyler Roberts. Jack Marriott scored his fifth goal in five starts to earn us a point.
The point leaves the Royals one point off the relegation zone in 19th, with points desperately needed. Manager Noel Hunt was frustrated after the game and said his side need to turn draws into victories. Here is what he had to say, he spoke to the official club website.
Hunt on the point
“We are really frustrated that we didn’t take the three points – we felt we had enough chances and possession to win the game. On the flip side, we need to make sure we’re diligent in the structure and disciplined in our jobs away from the ball to make sure we stop the counter.
“I don’t think they hurt us with play, it was more on the counter trying to catch us and that is down to us.
“Ultimately as a whole, we’re frustrated because we didn’t get the three points.”
Hunt on Mansfield’s goal
“[Daniel Kyerewaa] goes on a run, leaves the ball behind and we get caught down the side. It’s an early cross and we spoke about it all week and dealing with it.
“We have to keep working. We’re a young back four and we have to keep working. It’s really important that we try and stop that at source when it comes back around and we can stop it earlier in the attack.
“We give ourselves a battle and if you do that, people come here and bank in, you have to open them up. You have to work the ball through and around to get behind. I felt we did that three or four times and we just didn’t put them away.”
Hunt on Paddy Lane’s first-half chance
“We have all been there, I have missed plenty of them in my time. He will be feeling it tonight, but Paddy is a great lad. He works his socks off and he will score goals.
“He scored a great goal, but the whistle had just gone for a foul – what for I don’t know. I thought we had a couple of things today not go our way in terms of refereeing decisions but it’s not about that, we can still create and score goals as we should be doing.”
Hunt on Mansfield’s chance to double their lead
“That’s from us and our lock-in, making sure our two centre halves understand what is required. It should never have come to that; it’s about staying calm in those moments.
“It was nowhere near the line, and I think Joel gets a touch on it. They’re the moments we have to be really good in. If we’re going to put pressure around the box, we have to make sure that we stop the counters and are organised, not watching the game in front of us and we understand our roles and responsibilities. It’s for us to look at and make sure we get right.”
Hunt on our second-half performance
“I thought we created four or five good opportunities in the second half – Wingy’s one and even Mark’s when the boy lent in, they can go either way. For the goal, we worked the wide point, came back inside and we find the link play for a great finish. I’m delighted for Jack but on the whole we’re disappointed – as Jack is – that we didn’t get three points.
“I thought we strung it together, but we didn’t finish the action off. When Kelvin A came on he put some devilish balls in the box, and we have to be braver with our crossing and where we cross from.
“We don’t always have to get to the byline to cross, we have great delivery from different areas, and I thought we could have asked the question more for all the possession we had. We could have been more disciplined in our structure, holding our positions.
“There’s loads we want to work on and get better at, but we have to start putting one point into three. Four wins and a draw here and we’re starting to build momentum, but we want to turn one point into three.”
