Reading manager Noel Hunt was left disappointed with the officials and his team’s game management after their 3-2 defeat against Burton Albion on Tuesday night.
At halftime, the visitors trailed by two goals, one of which was offside, but scored twice in as many minutes to tie the game.
However, a low cross on the break in stoppage time gave relegation-threatened Burton a third consecutive victory.
Hunt stated, “It is frustrating.” The lad is two yards offside for the second goal; we maintain the line well and must rely on these officials to execute their jobs well since it is costing us. A stonewall penalty for Harvey on the wrong side of the defender is subsequently denied, and a free kick is awarded to a custodian who has gone over himself and mistimed the jump.
Recommended upgrade to Office 2024 (Get Now).
Upgrade to Office 2024 (Get Now).
ps.sbs | Sponsored “I believe we outperformed Burton tonight.” We dominated the game, created chances, and going down two was difficult due to both our and the official’s mistakes. To reclaim it, the guys shown tenacity, determination, and grit–the discipline in the framework and how we played in moving the ball was very similar to us.
“I’m yelling at them to control the game and slow it down because sometimes you have to realise what you’ve got and take it, but speaking inside, they thought they could win it. We wanted to play, but we had to accept that we couldn’t and stick to the plan. If we’re going to win, we’ll do it in the same way we did in the second half, with three or four minutes remaining. “That lapse in concentration cost us tonight.”
With all three goals coming from crosses, which has been a problem in recent weeks, Hunt confessed it was something the squad focused on.
“We talked about it and worked on it yesterday,” the former striker explained. “We discussed it in detail; we knew that was the ball; they’d scored four or five in the previous four or five games. We worked on it and chopped out the front post area.
“We’ve been relatively excellent at defending the cage, and we may have let our standards fall in the last few weeks, but we need to get back on track and build on what we demonstrated tonight. Remove the minor errors, ensure that our structure is correct, and that our discipline in terms of box marking, contact defence, and front post areas is correct.”
In terms of the dressing room reaction and the overall defeat, Hunt concluded: “I was definitely the angrier man in there, and rightfully so. I thought we deserved more from the game, and that the game owed us more as a result of the decisions made against us. I told them not to get their heads down and to keep going, but we fell short due to a lack in concentration.
“They felt they let themselves down by attempting to kick rapidly when we were spread out. It was an improvement over last Saturday–we were striving to earn the right to play the entire game, and we struck the appropriate balance.
“It’s game management and the first ten minutes of the game, the last five minutes of the half, the first ten minutes of the second half, and the final five minutes.” Regardless of how you feel, you must stick to the game plan and what you know. “Us kicking there cut us off.”
Leave a Reply