Goals from Reece Burke and Darren Pratley weren’t enough to see Wanderers pick up all three points against Reading on Tuesday evening, with them being forced to settle for a solitary point in their latest Sky Bet Championship outing.
Late goals from Liam Moore and Leandro Bacuna rescued a draw for the Royals, with Adam Le Fondre being denied a late winner against his former employers for the Whites.
And speaking following the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered these points…
On continuing the unbeaten run but being disappointed not to take all three points…
At two-nil up, you would expect to win the game. That said though, there were a lot of good parts to our display.
In the first half, we were very good and although Reading had a lot of possession and ran the ball out from the back which we knew they would, that continued into the second half.
I don’t think there was that much different in terms of the possession stats in both halves and I felt we were comfortable.
Ben’s had to pull off one great save from distance, but I felt we were in control.
I didn’t really feel threatened, but when the first goal goes in, it gives them a huge lift and changes the mood out on the pitch.
Ultimately, a lack of concentration has cost us with the second goal with giving the penalty away which was a shame as it spoilt a very good performance.
On scoring from two set-pieces…
We always work on set-pieces, as everybody knows, because they are crucial, but we probably haven’t been as good at them as we are capable of of late.
Tonight, we looked a real threat and I was very pleased for Reece Burke to get his first goal. He’s waited patiently for his chance and he took his goal really well, alongside a terrific goal from Darren too.
On centre-halves pitching in with goals from defence…
It’s important. When I was at Bradford with Reece, I always felt he was a threat in the box because he reacts really well to second-phase situations.
It was a very cool finish from him.
On the disappointment of conceding two goals…
I thought we were as comfortable as you can be against a good team, but their first goal was huge. We were trying to get Will Buckley onto the pitch prior to that and we couldn’t do it in time.
It definitely changed the dynamics of the game though, but even when it was 2-2, we went down the other end and could have arguably still won it with the chances we had.
It was a point-blank chance and we were all already celebrating it, but it wasn’t to be. We’ll take the point and move onto the weekend.
And finally, on the challenge of Wolves next up…
All games are tough and Saturday will be no exception. I was so pleased with the way the lads set out tonight and despite the result, overall, I thought we were very good.
At present, we don’t have any additional injuries heading into that game. Obviously young Antonee and Mark Little had slight problems, but both came through and were keen to play and gave their all.