McDermott: I love working with them

Reading manager Brian McDermott revealed how he loves working with his current bunch of players and how they showed character and resilience in their win last night.

The former Slough boss lead his side to a superb victory over play-off chasing Brighton. Ian Harte have the Royals a priceless lead on 14 minutes, with his deflected free-kick completely wrong footing Brezovan in the Brighton goal. The Seagulls hadn’t lost at home in 2012 and were on top for the majority of the game.

McDermott told the official RFC website: ‘We had four injuries going into the game – everyone knew about Jem of course, but Ledge was missing, Tabby was missing, Hal Robson-Kanu was missing – all with injuries. But for the players that came in to do as well as they did today, credit to the whole group. It was a great win.’

‘We had to hang in there at times tonight – it was a night for real men, character, resilience and we’ve got that in spades in our dressing room. You have to have all sorts of qualities and this group have them. I love working with them and I’m so pleased for them tonight. It was a night that summed up everything I have been saying about this squad all season.’

That three points extends the gap between the Royals in second and West Ham in third to a notable six points. Promotion is far from secured for Brian McDermott’s side but just two wins and a draw from their remaining four games would guarantee promotion back to the top flight for four years.