In his own words: Jimmy Phillips post-Reading

Despite being down to ten men for much of the contest following Rob Holding’s dismissal, it had seemed Wanderers would hold on to secure a share of the spoils.

Ben Amos saved a Matej Vydra penalty in the immediate aftermath of Holding’s sending off, but substitute Ola John’s strike on 90 minutes ultimately secure three points for the visitors.

Phillips covered the below points in his post-match press conference.

It was always going to take something special to beat Ben Amos, who was superb after his return from injury. From the penalty save onwards Ben kept us in the game, and it was only a fabulous strike that got the better of us.

I’ve not see it back yet. Watching it live I saw the two players going into a challenge and it looked as if Rob has got something on the ball. The referee has obviously seen something, so until I’ve seen it back it’d be unfair for me to really say anything else, but the decision certainly changed the game.

We’re obviously disappointed. We kept Reading at bay for 70-odd minutes after the sending off and I thought we kept our shape very well. I think we probably forced Reading to take on opportunities from distance as opposed to playing through us. 

We worked hard for the full 90 minutes. We kept going and kept running for each other in what were difficult circumstances. We need to show more quality on the ball when we have it, but we showed plenty of fight. Hopefully between now and the end of the season we can get some points on the board.

It came about in a melee of bodies so it was difficult to see what really happened. He’s required three or four stitches and with him off and us down to nine men, it was important we made the change and got Liam Trotter on. It’s unfortunate for Stephen because he worked hard in training to get his start.