Reading manager Ruben Selles is using Sunday’s 5-3 FA Cup triumph against Harborough Town as a ‘learning’ experience for his young side.
The Royals fought hard and needed extra time to get past the seventh-tier team, but they are in the draw for the third round on Monday.
Charlie Savage, Adrian Akande, and Chem Campbell each scored twice, and the Bees led in the first half before tying in the closing 10 minutes of normal time to force an extra 30 minutes.
Speaking after the win, Selles said: “We know from previous FA Cup games that it doesn’t matter who the opponent is–they presented a team with a clear plan. We knew it, and I believe it is part of our development as a team to be subjected to such intense pressure.
“It isn’t often that we have a must-win game, but today was. We felt the pressure in various portions of the game, making mistakes we weren’t used to, but in the end, we got through it as a team. We stuck with our style and defended those long balls, second actions, and throw-ins. It was a terrific learning experience for us.
“The bulk of the games we play, due to the situation of the club and the Academy players, we have the feeling of playing without pressure at times. This was a must-win today, and you should feel the strain. We felt, suffered, and went through it, thus it should be a valuable lesson for us.”
Supporters were concerned that Lewis Wing, Savage, and Ben Elliott might fatigue ahead of a more critical League One encounter against Cambridge United on Tuesday.
Despite playing for more than two hours, Selles claimed it was no more effort than his players would have done two days before any other game.
“We were able to make the players who generally play in the league play somewhat more than half of the game. That is what we would normally do on a day like today during training, so we opted to leave it as is.
“Players like Charlie [Savage], Ben [Elliott], and [Lewis] Wing, their distances and physical metrics are what they would do on matchday minus two.
It will be about rehabilitation for some of the others, particularly young players like Andre [Garcia] and Ashqar [Ahmed], who played 120 minutes for the first time in professional football.”
The biggest disappointment was a red card for adolescent Abraham Kanu, who received two cautions. “The entire back line was very young and without much experience,” Selles explained.
“That is why these games will help us improve, because Abraham was late twice. The first one is a terrible pass from a teammate, and he has covered the area. The second one was almost the last man in queue.
“I believe it is a valuable lesson for him, but things happen. If it hadn’t happened today, it could have happened in League One or another scenario, so we must exploit it.
It was a reasonable second yellow and not good for the team because we played for a long time with just 10 players, but it offers us a different perspective on what we can do with that many players.
“Hopefully he will put it in practise the next time he steps on the pitch and as a team we know it doesn’t matter if we have 10 players, we can still score goals.”
The round three draw will take broadcast on BBC Two on Monday at 7 p.m.
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