Reading FC's Jaap Stam On Brentford Win At Madejski Stadium

Reading claimed a late victory over Brentford on Tuesday night, winning 3-2 in a game they had looked like throwing away. John Swift opened the scoring in the first half, before rising pressure from the Bees flipped the score to 1-2 through Jota and one-time Reading target Lasse Vibe.

However, after a triple sub from Jaap Stam that introduced George Evans, Yann Kermorgant and Roy Beerens, close-range strikes from Danny Williams and Roy Beerens sealed the win.

Reading's manager likened the comeback to Liverpool's famous Champions League win over AC Milan, when he was part of the Italian side. He told Reading FC's official website:

“I once lost the Champions League final with three goals in six minutes! It can happen. Why does it happen? Sometimes it happens because there is disappointment when the opposition scores, so the organisation is not there and players may still be thinking about that first goal so they’re not as sharp as they need to be in certain situations.

“If the opposition does well, they can take advantage of that. That’s what they did, and probably we as well.”

Stam also paid tribute to how hard the team worked to dig out the result.

“They are very happy in what they achieved today. Everybody knew that it would be difficult, and to be fair the boys are very tired as well. They worked very hard.

“The game at the weekend against Barnsley wasn’t an easy one even though we could only get a draw. And you can see throughout the whole season and the workrate they put in throughout every game, it is tough.

“But we’ve got a couple of extra days now because we’re not playing at the weekend. So players need to take some rest.”

The former Manchester United and Ajax man told Get Reading that, although the Royals were a touch fortunate on the night, Ali Al-Habsi was an important part of getting the win.

"Sometimes you need to have a bit of luck. We were lucky with them missing chances but that's football.

"We've been in games where we should have got more but didn't get anything so that's how it is. I need to give Brentford a compliment because they are one of the best playing sides in the league."

"It's difficult not to give anything away when you play a team like Brentford. They created a couple of very good chances and Ali was there to save them.

"By making those saves it tells you how good he is. He is very important for the team."

You can read more of Jaap Stam's post-match thoughts from the official site here, and Get Reading here.