Reading FC manager blamed his players ‘lack of fitness’ after their late collapse against Derby County.
The Royals had a two-goal lead with less than five minutes of time remaining, but conceded two late goals and had to settle for a point.
“We had a fantastic 60 mins and executed our game plan,” said Paunovic.
“It’s probably the best first half we had in a long time.
“From that moment, we started to lose our fitness because of the circumstances over the last three weeks.
“The first goal hit us hard and we kept going back and giving away the ball and couldn’t recompose.
“It’s not good to see that but it’s comprehensible given the circumstances.”
Paunovic believes that disruptive few weeks that has seen three successive games postponed, contrbiuted to his team’s downfall in the closing stages.
“I contributed this one to the fitness levels,” he continued.
“We couldn’t cope with the last minutes of the game.
“There is a part of the mentality I didn’t like, not only in this game and that has been addressed.
“We have enough experience and quality to manage better those last minutes.
“In some moments we didn’t manage the game well with the ball. It’s because of the lack of fitness.
“We still have players who are recovering from symptoms. We’ve only trained two or three times with certain players this week.
“It will take some time to pick up our form.
“We have an unusual season. With all the circumstances our guys are committed fully and dealing with different things behind the scenes. We keep having the right attitude from everyone.
“This team always fights hard. Sometimes the plan works better, sometimes it does not.”
