Royals beaten by Bristol City

Sportsdesk • Published 19 Oct 2010 22:30 2 Comments

READING fired blanks for the second Championship game in a row as Bristol City chalked up their first home win of the season at Ashton Gate.

A 28th minute strike from Danny Haynes condemned Royals to their second 1-0 defeat in three days following Saturday's loss to Brendan Rodgers' Swansea City.

Boss Brian McDermott said: “We didn't deserve to lose. The first half was too open for my liking, there was too much space. Second-half we were camped in their half and David James has pulled off a world class save to foil Noel Hunt.

“Having said that, two one-nil defeats are difficult to take.”

It appears the international break could not have come at a worse time for Reading, costing McDermott's side crucial momentum.

Though Royals found ex-England stopper David James in fine form on the night, they lacked a cutting edge again.

Now there are calls for McDermott to spend some of the £7m raised from Gylfi Sigurdsson's sale to Hoffenheim to bolster his attack.

He admitted: “My thoughts are the same as every supporter, we need to take our opportunities. We created chances, we didn't take them.

“We lost a player to Germany for a hell of a lot of money, so we have to work out a way where we create chances and score goals.”

However, he also insisted: “We haven't performed to the level we're capable of this season. I know there's a lot more to come and that gives me belief.”

City's Jon Stead also hit the bar after three minutes while the closest Royals came to an equaliser was a Hunt header which James brilliantly saved.

It was Hunt's first league start since last October and Irishman is likely to keep his place for Saturday's trip to Burnley (3pm ko).

Reading (4-4-2): Federici - Griffin, Mills ©, Khizanishvili, Harte (Howard 60) - Kebe (Robson-Kanu 79), Karacan, Armstrong, McAnuff - Long (Church 75), Hunt. Subs not used: McCarthy, Pearce, Cummings, Antonio.

Bristol City: James - Carey (c), Caulker, Fontaine, McAllister, Adomah, Johnson, Elliott, Campbell-Ryce (Rose 84), Haynes (Cisse 75), Stead (Clarkson 90) Subs not used: Stewart, Gerken, Ribeiro, Pitman.

Referee: Chris Sarginson (Staffs).

Attendance: 13,519 (Reading 1,118).

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 20 Oct 10

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

• 

  RGSQ
  Unregistered User
  Oct 20, 12:24
  Report comment

  We need a out and out goal scorer, we have plenty of the play but no end result. I think that there will be problems if we do not have a striker soon.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

• 

  Tanya Hyde
  Unregistered User
  Oct 21, 09:42
  Report comment

  @RGSQ: I wonder if Rooney or Torres would be interested? They've been off form lately - I'm sure we could snap them up at a bargain price!
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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