Reading FC Manager Brian McDermott On Ugly Rotherham Win

After the weekend's heroics it was back to the Championship, and the positivity continued in an ugly 1-0 win against strugglers Rotherham. Hal Robson-Kanu scored the vital goal in the second half to secure the important three points to put us in 14th. Brian McDermott told the official club website:

"It's job done. It was a really tough game. They made it really difficult, like we'd expect. It's an ugly 1-0 win and we'll take that. The result comes off the back of the result at the weekend, the euphoria of the cup win over West Brom in front of a big crowd. So tonight was a test - and the boys have come through that test tonight.

"We've got a clean sheet and won the game 1-0. It might not have been much of a spectacle, I'd imagine. Over a period of time, we've been coming out on the wrong end of games like these, but we've come out the right side of the result this evening, which is really, really important.

"The two centre halves and Michael Hector had to win some big headers in the box today, there were a lot of long throws being hurled into the box and a lot of long balls forward, and it's not easy to play on the pitch at the moment - so we had to find a way to get the result. Tonight was a different way to win a game, and we have to keep finding whatever way works to win matches.

"Over 46 games in the Championship, every game is going to be different and you're going to get games like that one tonight. So it's important you see them through and come out the other side of it with the right result, which we did."

The Madejski has become a fortress yet again with us remaining unbeaten at home in 2016 and keeping four clean sheets out of our last six games. Things seem to be turning around.

McDermott had praise for goalscorer Hal Robson-Kanu, he added:

"It was a fabulous finish. Top drawer, the way he slid it into the corner from the edge of the box. And that was the difference between the sides tonight. It we keep performing, keep getting the details right, keep keeping clean sheets, keep scoring goals, we'll get what we deserve.

"It's a good night for us. We can look forward to our next game away to Charlton now. There are plenty of points to play for. So we just need to concentrate on the moment we're in.

"I love the fact we've got this quarter-final coming up, that just keeps us going nicely. And we've got a big game at the weekend at The Valley... let's try to win that and we'll see how many points we can get in the 14 games we've got left."