The Royals secured a brilliant 1-0 victory over Leyton Orient at the SCL Stadium to move into the League One play-off places.
A second-half strike from Paddy Lane proved to be the difference, although the Royals could have enjoyed a more comfortable victory after Lewis Wing saw his first-half penalty saved.
The victory moves Reading up to sixth in the table. Royals boss Leam Richardson spoke to Royals TV to share his thoughts on the performance and another important three points.
Richardson on the victory
“Yeah, a good response from the weekend. The result, not the performance, but yeah, clean sheets – I love clean sheets!
“I thought we worked hard, certainly in the second half. We started the game really well. I thought we were really good with the ball and without the ball, and caused them all sorts of problems.
“I think they changed shape a couple of times as well, which is always a good sign of respect. We’re probably disappointed not to go in at half-time one or two goals up.
“In the second half, we had to be really good without the ball. Although it looked like they had some good shots, I don’t really remember Joel having to make any massive saves.
“I thought we were quite comfortable controlling the ball. We probably started to play the result a little bit for 20 minutes, but that’s human nature. We’re at home and we’re trying everything we can to win.
“We made changes to get us back up the pitch a little bit, and the lads who came on did their jobs really well.
“The goal was a typical team goal. Our possession, controlling the spaces where we wanted to be, and then in transition, it was fantastic. A really good team goal, so I’m really pleased.”
Richardson on Lewis Wing’s missed penalty
“Listen, we’ve got good players. We knew there was nothing lost, nothing gained. We’ve got to stay strong with it.
“He’s very experienced, Wingy, isn’t he? So I’ve got no issues with that. He’ll take the next one.
“He’s disappointed like everybody else, but I thought him and Andy in the middle of the pitch were excellent tonight, with and without the ball.
“In the first half, they were fantastic. They made great decisions, changing play, and then I thought without the ball in the second half, the lads were really controlled.
“The wide players on the outside, the nine and the 10 in front of them, I thought we were very good.”
Richardson on the defensive performance and clean sheet
“It’s not just about the back four and the goalkeeper, you need all 11.
“You see how hard the lads work for 60 or 70 minutes, controlling where we wanted to put the ball for large parts of the game. I think it’s credit to everybody, all the way through to Joel.
“We were very methodical in what we were doing without the ball in the last 20 minutes, so that was really pleasing.
“I think we probably deserved the win off the back of our endeavour without the ball in the second half and the way we played in the first half.”
Richardson the fans
“I’ve got to say, towards the end, I felt we needed energy on the pitch. I was trying to make changes, but I thought the fans played a massive part. A massive part.
“They put energy onto the pitch. You could see it. They brought the lads to life.
“I thought collectively, from the staff to the players to the fans, it was a big win tonight.”
Richardson on moving into the play-off places
“Listen, of course it’s important. You’d rather be further up the table, but I won’t get as low as Saturday and I won’t get as high as tonight.
“It’s a campaign of 46 games, plus cup games, and we’ll be where we need to be at the end of the season. We’ll take it every game at a time.”
Richardson on Saturday’s game against Barnsley
“It’s important what we do now because it’s Wednesday evening. Nutrition, sleep, strength and conditioning, fitness, how we train tomorrow and Friday, all going into Saturday’s game.
“We’re playing another good team in Barnsley on Saturday, full of youthful energy.
“I watched them last night and they probably should have got something from the game.
“It’ll be a good game for us on Saturday and we’re going to need all the energy we can get from the players, both on and off the pitch.”