Clarke: Difficult To Know When To Make Changes

Another Tuesday evening, another defeat in a game which saw Steve Clarke make six changes in our 3-0 defeat up at Huddersfield.

Clarke told the official Reading website:

"It’s disappointing; it was a game that slipped away from us.

"We gave away a sloppy goal from a set play which is very unlike us and it put us back on the back foot.

"Then we came into the game, got a foothold and their goalkeeper made a great save off Hope Akpan and Jake Taylor had a big chance at the back post.

"At half time we were in the game and we had a chance. But unfortunately Adam Federici made a mistake, he doesn’t make many and from there it was a long way back."

With a busy run of fixtures that the club is currently on, Clarke made drastic changes to rest some first team players ahead of this weekend’s game against Nottingham Forest at the Madejski Stadium.

Clarke added:

"I’m a little disappointed for the boys who came in, they tried hard and at one stage it looked like we’d get something.

"I’m ten weeks into the job, and it’s always difficult to know when is the right time to make changes. I just felt that in this run of horrendous fixtures, it was right to give one or two a rest and I had to look at some players as well.

"It’s just where we are, the run of games we’re in, we’ve had a hell of a run. We’ve seemed to struggle between the Saturday and Tuesday games. I’m hoping between Tuesday and Saturday we’ll get it right.

Huge respect to the 187 fans who travelled up to Yorkshire last night to witness the display, and Clarke was extremely appreciative of their support:

"187 might not sound a lot but it’s a big effort for them and we appreciate their support, we’re not happy that they go away disappointed."