Clarke has mixed feelings

Steve Clarke admitted Brighton deserved their late point against the Royals, but was still pleased with a point nonetheless.

The Royals boss watched on as his side took a comfortable two-goal lead at the Amex Stadium, thanks to Glenn Murray’s goals. Brighton fought back though and gained a point with a very late Inigo Calderon goal, just when it seemed Clarke had his first Reading win in the bag.

Speaking to the Official Reading FC website, Clarke said after the game: ‘My feelings after that are a bit mixed – but we`re off and running and will hopefully start to move up the table now. We probably sat a little bit too deep, tried to defend and didn’t use the ball well enough.’

‘The positive is my first point, so I`m happy with that. A lot of aspects of the game were good. We played some good stuff and showed that we can come away from home and score goals. We didn`t manage the ball well enough & if we had then I think it could`ve been a different story.’

Honest words from the gaffer, who admitted Brighton deserved their share of the points, in what was really a game of two halves. Did the manager’s tactics invite that pressure in the second half though? Possibly, but I don’t think the players have enough confidence to do so.