Reading boss Ruben Selles has addressed Reading’s torrid away form in the league.
Speaking after the Royals’ last-minute 2-1 defeat against Leyton Orient on Saturday afternoon, Selles spoke of “hurt” felt after the latest of seven consecutive losses on the road.
Following “We competed until the very end, something we didn’t do in the last two away games. It’s another goal in the last minute in a situation we can easily solve. It hurts.
“I think we were in the game, we came here to compete. We came back after the first goal. We need to improve in those situations.”
When asked if he felt any additional pressure as a result of Reading’s away form in the league this season, Selles said: “There’s always pressure to win football matches. I think we have been in situations where we can win some points.
“The lesson there is that we can be more competitive. Of course, if you’re a coach and your team isn’t working, you are on top of it and are the first [person] responsible.”
“People wanted us to just bounce back. I was the first person when I joined this project who wanted this, but the situation didn’t allow us. We found ourselves with the minus one, then the minus three points deduction and we were not able to win some football matches. I think we need to put our situation into perspective but I accept that people expected more than us.”
The game at Orient saw the reintroduction of maligned defenders Tom Holmes and Nesta Guinness-Walker, both of whom took their place on the bench on Saturday afternoon.
Of the pair, Selles explained: “They have been working in the way they need to work. We had some players out, they were working well, so I didn’t have any problems for them to get back into the team.
“When Matty Carson got tired Nesta stepped in and did a good job. Then when we were under pressure and needed to defend the situations in the box, we brought on Tom Holmes.”
The Spaniard confirmed that Sam Hutchinson had picked up a hip injury in the warm-up, which meant he was unable to kick a football, but said that Tom McIntyre and Sam Smith were closing in on returns to first team action.
