Published: Tuesday, 26th January, 2010 10:00pm

McDermott steps up striker search after heavy Blades defeat

by Sportsdesk

Comments (3) | Print | Email

BRIAN McDermott was left to rue a glut of missed chance as Royals slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Sheffield United.

The score may have flattered the Blades but Reading had only themselves to blame for squandering a string of opportunities.

And the defeat plunged them even further into trouble as Plymouth's win over Derby County left Royals languishing one place above the bottom of the Championship in 23rd position.

United led 2-0 at the break through Jonathan Fortune and Richard Cresswell before a late goal from Chris Morgan secured the points.

But it could have been different if Gylfi Sigurdsson's first-half penalty had gone to make it 1-1 instead of being saved by Blades' inspired keeper Mark Bunn.

And McDermott admitted: "It's an opportunity missed.

"We gave a goal away early doors and we have to stop doing it.

"But we had our chances again tonight. We had our one-on-ones and their goalkeeper made some great saves.

"But Sheffield were better than us in both boxes. They were more ruthless and we have to defend better than we did because they scored twice from set-plays.

"Bramall Lane is a tough place to go but I'm really disappointed. When you lose 3-0 it looks like you've been well beaten but if you look at the chances created it wasn't the case."

McDermott, though, maintains his belief that there was enough in the performance to suggest they can avoid the drop.

And the caretaker boss hinted he may still bring in another striker to cure his side's problems up front.

"I'm confident we can get out of it with the players we have and the chances we are creating," he said.

"We've got to keep going. No-one can duck out of the battle and it's a real, real challenge.

"I'm right up for it and we're looking forward to that challenge."

And he added: "If somebody popped up now like a striker for example, and we felt he was the right one, I'm sure we would do something.

"We need someone to score, we need goals. When you look at the chances we created I'm sure on another day we would have scored.

"We've got Shane Long, Grzegorz Rasiak, Gunnar Thorvaldsson and Simon Church as well as Nicholas Bignall and Hal Robson-Kanu.

"We've just got to find the right blend and when we do I'm sure we will start scoring."

Royals now face a critical home fixture against Barnsley on Saturday, a game they must really win to enhance their survival prospects.

"We've got to pick ourselves up and make sure we're spot on for Barnsley which is a massive game" admitted McDermott.

"In my five league games in charge four of them have been away and I'm really looking forward to going home to the Madejski Stadium."

McDermott has not won any of his five league games in charge and has suffered three defeats in that run.

However, speculation is rife that chairman Sir John Madejski is set to make the club's former chief scout his permanent manager for the rest of the season when he returns from holiday later this week.

McDermott confirmed: "I'll be speaking to the chairman very soon."

Reading (4-4-2): Federici - Griffin, Mills, Ingimarsson, Bertrand - McAnuff, Cisse (Howard 46), Karacan (Kebe 75), Sigurdsson - Thorvaldsson (Rasiak 63), Long. Subs not used: Church, Pearce, Khizanishvili, Hamer. Booked: Griffin 35, Howard 80.

Sheff Utd (4-4-2): Bunn - Walker, Morgan, Fortune, Taylor (Stewart 46) - Ward (Yeates 85), Montgomery, Harper, Quinn - Evans (Henderson 80), Cresswell. Subs not used: Williamson, Bennett, Geary, Camara. Booked: Montgomery 47, Harper 62, Quinn 74.

Referee: Phil Crossley (Kent).

Attendance: 24,009.