Brian McDermott: "It Was Great To Get Late Win"

It has been a long time since we were able to celebrate a last minute goal but what a fantastic feeling it was. A stoppage time winner from Nick Blackman secured an important three points for the Royals in a 1-0 win against Bristol City at the Madejski Stadium.

Brian McDermott praised the fans after the game, he told the official club website,

"The fans stuck by us, they really did. The fans kept us going, they stayed with the team.

"I don't know how many late wins I've had during my time here at Reading, but it was great to get another one today. And that was a tough, tough game... a toss of a coin game. So it was so important that the supporters kept urging the players forward till the end.

"The Championship is about picking up points, accumulating points where you can, and it doesn't matter when you score, you've just got to keep going.

"We went to Wolves, played really, really well and got nothing. We had Brentford here and I thought we deserved a point - and the win today was a real scrap.

"But this division is about scrapping and we're trying to win the game from the bench, making offensive changes to try to win it late on when at 0-0 it can go either way - and I always had the belief that if we could get it in the right area we were going to score. Thankfully, it happened.

"We're trying to win the game at 0-0 - and that's really important. Confidence is a strange thing and that win gives us that extra little bit of confidence. It's a big win."

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Since McDermott has returned, he has said on numerous occasions that it is not about the individuals but the group as a whole and yesterday was no different, he added:

"Matěj Vydra makes a great tackle in the build up, it's a great pass by Garath McCleary and a great finish from Blackman. Ali Al-Habsi's gone in goal and kept a clean sheet. Hal Robson-Kanu has come on and made an impact, Jake Cooper was phenomenal at the back and it was great to get Anton Ferdinand back so quickly after Hull.

"But I'm proud of everyone in the dressing room, the group that we've got. And it is about the group, because the whole group has to be going in the same direction.

"There are a lot of players in that dressing room who have contributed to that win, and that's what we're trying to develop here. That was about the whole group and I'm delighted with the result."

The FA Cup is back next weekend, with a trip to Huddersfield - exactly the same as last season and we all know what happened. McDermott has seen his fair share of brilliant FA Cup runs in his time at Reading, he said: "We're going to try and win. Last week I was really miserable because we lost, so I want to try and win.

"Last year our fans saw us go on a fantastic run to the semi-finals, the team got to Wembley and could have got to the final. So we'll pick a team who we think can win at Huddersfield.

"They've won today too, so it's going to be another tough game. And it's about the FA Cup now. We'll try and go as far as we possibly can and I'm looking forward to the game."