Our streak of poor performances on a Tuesday evening continued in a shock 3-1 defeat against Huddersfield at the John Smith's Stadium. With all eyes on Friday night's FA Quarter-Final against Crystal Palace, manager Brian McDermott put out a under strength side.
He told the official club website...
"That game will be out of my mind very quickly. Congratulations to Huddersfield, they've got their result. But we have to put it to bed straight away and look forward to our game on Friday night.
"There was nothing in the game for 50 minutes until we made a mistake which cost us the first goal. A great finish from Ola John that gives us a nice lift at the end, but it wasn't a great night overall and it was a trickly night all round... trying to make the right decisions, trying to pick the right team with the quarter-final of the FA Cup in our mind but also wanting to win this game.
"We picked a team that could have won this game tonight, and I was excited to see that team play tonight, and I thought the team were competitive - even though some of them haven't played for a while.
"It's not been a great night as far as the result is concerned. But we're looking forward to a great night on Friday, in front of a full house at the Madejski and there will be plenty of great nights to come.
"You don't want to lose a game 3-1 away from home, but this result will have no bearings on Friday's game whatsoever. Friday is a completely different game which we're looking forward to. This one is one we will move on from very quickly."
Our unbeaten streak is now over in time to face Alan Pardew and his Crystal Palace side on Friday evening who are on a bad run of form themselves. McDermott is looking forward to the fixture...
"We have to start another run now. And from now it's just about Friday. We'll have 20 odd thousand at the Madejski and let's see if we can put on a big performance, a Reading performance at home."