Royals boss reflects on first game

A nice change from Adkins’ usual post-match interviews – Steve Clarke gave an honest assessment in his first match.

The gaffer prepared his side after taking his first training session on Thursday morning, but saw them fall to defeat against Watford yesterday. Reading had enough chances to win the game in the second half though and were punished when Almen Abdi scored the winner.

Speaking to the Official Reading FC website, Clarke said: ‘I told the players after the game that they have to be disappointed with the result, but not to be with their application and how they played. It’s the same for the supporters, I thought their reception was brilliant.’

‘Don’t just look at the result, look at the small steps we’ve made. We’re trying to build and make sure we’re competitive at the right end of the table. There’s a little negative spiral at the moment, so we didn’t get the bounce of the ball, and when it’s going well it will come.’

Fair quotes from the new gaffer, there were some positives for all to see, but the confidence is clearly low with the players at the moment. I’m sure Clarke will try and raise them for the Brighton game, a team also low on confidence, so we can get three points on the board.