Reading FC defender slams first-half performances
Anthony Smith • Published 13 Jan 2012 10:30
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SHAUN Cummings warns that Reading's sloppy first-half displays are costing them dearly.
Royals have suffered a poor start to 2012 following back-to-back league and cup defeats.
Brian McDermott's men kicked off 2012 with a comprehensive 3-1 loss at Championship promotion rivals Cardiff City, then were dumped out of the FA Cup last Saturday by League One Stevenage following a 1-0 reverse at Madejski Stadium.
And, to confirm Cummings' theory, all four goals Royals conceded came in the opening 45 minutes of each game.
That, says Cummings, is not good enough for a team harbouring realistic hopes of going up this season, as they prepare to hit the road this Saturday for the short trip to Watford for a televised clash (5.20pm ko, live Sky Sports).
The 22-year-old right-back said: "A lot of people may say there is some consolation in the fact we can concentrate on the league now that we're out of the cup.
"But at the end of the day you don't want to lose any football match, especially in the FA Cup. We want to win every game we play.
"What we need is a reaction to the Stevenage defeat. That's two games in a row we've lost and, as a team, we have played poor in both."
And Cummings has no doubts as to where Reading's problem lies.
"If I'm honest we played badly in the first half in both of those games against Cardiff and Stevenage," he argued. "Hopefully we can put those behind us now and kick on by picking up a few wins in 2012."
Despite the double defeats, Reading remain fifth in the Championship table going into Saturday's clash at Vicarage Road.
And they remain top of the Championship form table over the previous eight league games with 18 points from a possible 24 including memorable victories over West Ham and Leeds United.
McDermott's men rattled in 15 goals in that run, with Burnley the only side to match them in that department.
However, past glories count for nothing as far as Cummmings is concerned.
The former Chelsea youth product declared: "That's good, but those games are gone now. After two defeats we need to kick on again and step it up as a team by showing everyone what we can do."
Sadly, Cummings admits Reading failed to stick to their game plan against Stevenage, and deserved nothing from the third round tie.
"You have to credit Stevenage," he said. "They came to our place and did what they had to do. Unfortunately we didn't do our job and that is very disappointing.
"In the first half we didn't play how we know we should play, we weren't our usual selves.
"We normally start games pretty strongly, and that's very important particularly in cup games when it really counts.
"You could see the manager wasn't happy from our reaction in the second half. We were much better than we were in the first half but by then it was too late.
"We needed to get a couple of goals and we're disappointed we didn't manage that. But the first half killed us really.
"We're just really disappointed to be out of the competition now, especially after one game. That's no offence to Stevenage, they're a really good team and they proved it on the day."
This season's FA Cup campaign was a far cry from the previous two years when Reading reached successive quarter finals, shocking Liverpool and Everton along the way.
And Cummings summed up their frustrations stating: "We had high expectations going into this year's competition. We had played really good teams in the previous two years and got past them.
"So to go out in the third round is disappointing, but that's football. We should have done what we set out to do. If we had done that in the first place we wouldn't be here talking about a defeat."
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 12 Jan 12
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