Defender disheartened by Royals' stoppage-time equaliser
Tim Ream could not hide his disappointment as Bolton Wanderers were pegged back by a last-minute equaliser against Reading on Tuesday night.
Jamie Mackie's injury-time strike cancelled out Eidur Gudjohnsen's opener for the Whites, who had lost Kevin McNaughton, David Wheater and Zach Clough to injury during a heated first half, with virtually the last kick of the game.
Ruing dropped points and the timing of the goal at the final whistle, Ream stressed how important it was for Neil Lennon's side to regroup and go again next week away at Blackburn Rovers.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” conceded the American. “Their only really chance on comes in the last 30 seconds and they stick it in the back of the net.
“It’s frustrating. The same thing happened here against Wolves and Watford so it is a bitter pill to swallow, but it is something we have to swallow and move on.
“We all felt that we had the better of the play and created more opportunities. They had one cleared off the line but other than that it was pretty much back and forth in midfield.
“But you expect to win with 30 seconds to go when ahead 1-0, so, like I said, it’s frustrating.”
Ream continued: “The first half was a bit stop-start with the three guys going down injured. It is definitely a strange one to see, having to make three subs in the first.
“We’d get into our flow but then it would get interrupted so we never really got going until the second half.
“It’s one of those things when you deal with injuries and deal with the physicality and you’ve just got to get through it.
“It feels like a defeat, conceding that late, but we take the point. We’ve moved that little bit closer to safety.
“We have a little bit of a down period over the weekend now so now we can go again and get ourselves ready for the derby against Blackburn next week.”