READING FC interim manager Noel Hunt gave his thoughts ahead of a ‘do or die’ contest away at Huddersfield Town on Monday on the final day of the Championship season.
Reading’s Championship future is now in the hands of others and they will be relegated before the trip to Huddersfield if the Terriers avoid defeat against Sheffield United on Thursday.
However, the Royals boss is staying positive and hoping for an outcome that will give his team a chance to go into the last game with survival back in their own hands.
“We hope for the best possible outcome,” said Hunt.
“There’s no black or white. It’s do or die.
“If we go all attack too early, we might leaves ourselves too open and then have an even bigger mountain to climb.
“But we can’t hold anything back. We’ve got to get the balance right and trust how we can create chances and then work from a structure.
“We have to emphasise that we have to win the game. At some point we have to throw the kitchen sink at the game.”
Despite the situation currently being out of their control, Hunt is confident that his side will be able to get the result to keep them in the league if given the chance.
He continued: “The emphasis is we can go there knowing if the boys give us everything they’ve got, as they did on Saturday, I fancy us.
“The way I look at it, if we get the chance, we can be the hunters and not the hunted.
“I don’t care who does it (scores), it could be Joe Lumley for all I care as long as one of them does it. If one of them does it, we all win so it doesn’t matter if we get it done.
“What will be will be. We can only control ourselves and keep the mindset right.
“They’re in good spirits. They were down after Saturday because they didn’t win the game and we felt how we performed was good enough to win any game of football. On another day, you score three or four.
“We’ve got to be brave, stick to our principles.
“Whatever happens, we do it together. That has always been the way here. That togetherness only makes you stronger.
“You have to forget about your tiredness, your pains, your aches and just give everything you can for 95 minutes.
“As long as they come back in here and have given everything they possibly could for the team, no one will have a go at you or think any less of you. As long as you give that, that’s good enough for me.”
