Schumacher | We Didn't Deserve To Lose

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Steven Schumacher felt his players did enough to get some reward in his first game in charge of Wanderers, writes Pete Oliver.

Schumacher led the Whites less than 48 hours after being confirmed as head coach and he could have been celebrating his appointment with one point if not more had a few pivotal minutes had worked out differently.

In a tight contest when Wanderers had the better of the chances, top scorer Aaron Collins let a big one pass by before Reading struck moments later from the penalty spot to take all three points from a 1-0 win.

“I didn't feel as though we deserved to lose the game, certainly not in the manner that we lost it - a mistake from something and nothing was really disappointing,” said Schumacher after substitute Kion Etete’s handball had allowed Harvey Knibbs to grab the only goal in the 89th minute and deny Wanderers the prospect of a hat-trick of wins.

“But as I said to the players in the dressing room at the end, we'll play worse than that I'm sure over the remainder of this season and win games. It’s been a really tough week. To get six points is pleasing. We would have liked to have taken something from this game, obviously, and to come away with nothing is a blow. But it’s hugely positive looking forward.

“The form that Aaron has been in this season has been outstanding. You’d expect him to score that but he's only human. Players do make mistakes and these things happen. Kion is gutted in the dressing room. It’s just a mistake where he’s mis-timed the header and his arm is out and it’s hit him, so no complaints.

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Schumacher sidelines Reading

“I was really pleased with huge elements of their performance. With us being here 24 hours, I wasn't going to do anything drastically different and rip up the script because the team play in the style I like playing in and I was pleased how many times we got in on their back line.

“We didn’t have to take 20-20 passes. Sometimes we were in direct and the lads did really well. It was pleasing, but obviously we just need the end bits to finish it off.”

Schumacher now has a clear week – and a transfer deadline to pass – to further integrate his ideas and new backroom staff following the appointments of Mark Hughes and Richie Kyle.

And with positive first impressions since taking the job, he’s relishing the challenge of trying to get Wanderers into the top six as a next step.

“It's been great,” Schumacher added. “Getting into the group, the first thing I said to them is there's so much quality in this squad. Today I had leave two really talented players who weren't injured back in the North-West and had to leave two from the travelling squad out of the 18.

“I made four changes to the team and in my opinion there wasn't a huge drop-off in performance so I'm excited with the potential that it's got.

“You have to get through tough games like this. We will play better and play worse than this. I feel that if we all stick together, like we have to to get promoted, and keep working incredibly hard then we'll get what we deserve.”

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