Spark will ignite Reading FC's season, says Mills
Shakila Barabhuiya • Published 27 Oct 2011 18:30
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So close: Joseph Mills believes Reading are on the verge of making their mark this season.
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READING FC full-back Joseph Mills believes his side are just "inches away" from becoming a real force in the Championship.
Mills was speaking after they came so close to beating his boyhood club Southampton last weekend but were instead held to a 1-1 draw at the Madejski.
Despite a bad start to the season, the Royals are only four points off the play-off places now after putting together a run of seven matches unbeaten.
During that time, Reading have drawn with three of the top-six teams in the Championship, including Middlesbrough, Derby County and most recently, Southampton.
Leading Mills to claim: "When we played Derby we felt we should have won the game and again on Saturday we should have won, so I think we're just inches away.
"We just need to find that definite spark at the end to start turning these draws into wins.
"Looking at the performances, you can't say we're far off."
"I thought we could do it [against Southampton] but unfortunately we conceded a goal late on when they were down to 10 men."
Indeed, the Saints shot- stopper Kelvin Davis proved to be the difference at the Madejski, earning him the man-of-the-match award on Saturday.
"I think it was a great save from Alfie, if that goes in, it's
1-0 at half-time and it could have been a different story.
"Kelvin is a top goalkeeper and I would put him down as one of the main reasons why Southampton are at the top."
Meanwhile, Royals assistant manager Nigel Gibbs believes Mills represents the start of a new young crop of players at the club.
"Joseph is working at his game, he's in the team now and we're seven games undefeated," said Gibbs. "He's still learning, he's not a natural left-back - he's played left midfield for a lot of his career so he's learning the game but has still come in and done terrific.
"He's a different player to the other left-backs we have at the club, he's got his strengths and weaknesses and he's working hard.
"Then we've got Jem Karacan who is still just 22, Hal, Churchy - they're all young players trying to make their way in the game and they're doing terrifically. It's a different team to last year, we're pleased with the progress."
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 27 Oct 11
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