McDermott Pleased After Huddersfield Draw

Brian McDermott was pleased with the draw up at Huddersfield which means we are still in the hat for the fourth round of the FA Cup.

After the Royals went 1-0 down after Jamie Paterson scored for Huddersfield, the Royals made a comeback with goals from Matej Vydra and Hal Robson-Kanu. But a last minute penalty for the Terriers was slotted home from Nahki Wells to secure a replay at the Madejski.

McDermott told the official club website:

"The first 45 minutes they were by far the better side. We had to make changes at half-time and then we brought Lucas on and he made a big difference - we started to get on the ball."

"I was delighted for both Hal and Vyds who got the goals - they both worked very, very hard. And when we got to 2-1 up, I thought we could go on to win the game - we need to learn to win games and finish games like that off.

"Having said that, we don't want to be greedy. In the context of that game, Huddersfield will be disappointed not to go through. And we're in the hat, which is all that's important."

McDermott also felt that we should have had a penalty of our own, he added:

"It was an interesting game for the referee today - he's got two right, one wrong. He's got the one at the end right - their penalty is a penalty. He's got the booking for a dive for their player when Ali Al Habsi came out right - it wasn't a penalty. But the one that saw Vydra get bundled over was a penalty, and he didn't get that right."

"I've just discussed dangling legs, you don't dangle legs anywhere on the pitch at that stage of the game because you give fouls away. So it's important we learn from that and learn how to win games of football we are winning 2-1 with five minutes to go. It's something we'll work on.

"We're still working with the team. We're trying to find a way. And when you're trying to find a way, you've got to try to get a result at the same time.

"We found a result against Bristol City and we have got a result again today, we've got to remember that! They're a good side, they passed the ball around and gave us a lot of problems today, but we came good again.

"The fans were fabulous, turning out in great numbers. I just wish we could have seen it through for them.

"But we were losing the game and we've got a result, that's what this game is all about. We're in the cup and we're back at the Madejski."

The replay is scheduled for Tuesday 19th January at the Madejski Stadium - subject to TV selections.