Bartley urges Reading Town to kickstart home form
Sportsdesk • Published 10 Nov 2011 09:30
0 Comments
READING TOWN manager Mark Bartley says his side are determined to right their home form when they host local rivals Wokingham & Emmbrook this Saturday (3pm ko).
The Scours Lane club have been in impressive form in the Hellenic Premier Division lately, winning their last three matches and picking up maximum points from their five most recent away games.
Even in defeat to Binfield in the Floodlit Cup on Monday evening, a much-changed Reading side showed plenty of character as they lost by just a single goal.
At Scours Lane it has been a different story, however, with Town picking up just a point from three home matches since beating the Moles in late September.
And with five successive home games coming up in the league, Bartley knows his side need to improve in front of their own fans.
"We have a bit of work to do at home and the lads are
hurting about that, so you will see a reaction on Saturday," he said.
"We will be ready to put it right on Saturday, we're not happy about it, and I'm not happy about it as a manager. I don't like getting beat at the best of times but especially not at our own ground."
Bartley made nine changes to his side against Binfield on Monday, with 17-year-old substitutes Scott Lamond and Jack Mew impressing and Kaser Chowdray making his debut.
It was former player Mike Hancock who came back to haunt Reading though as he scored the only goal of the game in the first half.
The centre-back latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the six-yard box and hammered home shortly after half an hour to give the Moles the lead.
Chances were few and far between in the match as the visitors rarely threatened Dan Weait's goal and Moles striker Carl Davies was a constant thorn for Reading. Weait was called upon late on to make some decent saves from close-range but the Reading attack was kept at bay for the most part.
On Saturday, Reading came from behind to record an impressive 2-1 win at Slimbridge, with Dave Stevens and Michael Bartley both on target.
Jamie Martin fired Swans into the lead in the first half but Reading started to gain the upper hand after the break and a superb one-two between Stevens and Marcus Richardson forced an impressive save from the goalkeeper.
The visitors equalised with 23 minutes remaining when Graham Lewis swung in a cross and Bartley swept his shot into the back of the net.
Stevens then grabbed the winner when Swans failed to clear and Stevens smashed an effort past the goalkeeper.
Following their meeting with Wokingham this Saturday, Reading travel to the same opponents in the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy on Tuesday (7.45pm ko).
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 10 Nov 11
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.
