McDermott: We didn’t deserve to lose

Reading manager Brian McDermott has admitted his disappointment and pride in his side’s 4-2 defeat to Chelsea yesterday, also ruing the offside decision for their third goal.

The 51-year old’s side came from 1-0 down at Stamford Bridge to lead 2-1 at half time, thanks to goals from summer signing signings Pavel Pogrebnyak and Danny Guthrie. However, Gary Cahill equalised after another error from Adam Federici and Fernando Torres gave Chelsea the lead in the 80th minute, but appeared to be in an offside position.

Speaking to the Official Reading FC website, McDermott said: ‘We didn’t deserve to lose. We’re disappointed with the result and I’m gutted for the players because I didn’t just think we were going to draw, I thought we were going to win. It’s a shame. We probably dropped a little bit deep after half time but I thought we got through it and weathered that.’

Commenting about the offside decision given against his side, he added: ‘The linesman will be disappointed with the third goal, from where I was I knew he was offside and when you see it back it was clear. He said he’d look back on it but it’s gone now. He’s had a poor night and because of that we’ve had a disappointing result. That’s life.’

Despite the defeat, Reading fans can take enormous pride from their fight and resilience against the European Champions on their home turf. McDermott will now prepare his squad for Saturday’s game at Sunderland, where it is expected he will promote Adam Le Fondre back into the starting XI, with Jason Roberts returning with a place on the bench.