Jaap Stam’s Verdict On Bristol City Defeat

It was a frustrating afternoon at the Madejski Stadium with a good, promising performance from the Royals, but missed chances meant our first home defeat of the season.

Bristol City were the visitors and didn’t have too many chances, but scored a late winner to take all three points, the first team to do this in Royal Berkshire since January.

Jaap Stam was understandably disappointed after the game and told the official club website, “Very frustrating, we were facing an opposition who wanted to make it difficult for us, by going forward, being aggressive and pressing high up the pitch to prevent us from playing and they didn’t let us get into our comfort zone so at times we had difficulties in getting control of the game.

“But overall, in the amount of opportunities we created to score, I think we should have won this game - which we didn’t! And that’s what makes it frustrating.

“We had plenty of opportunities. But it’s all about scoring. It’s a cliche, but so many times you see games where a team has lots of chances but doesn’t finish them off and then the opposition eventually scores and that’s it.

“In having possession, creating good opportunities, we played well. But you need to score... and we didn’t.”

The referee had an interesting game and arguably should have given a red car to City’s Nathan Baker after he brought down Mo Barrow in the first half with Barrow being in on goal. Stam said on the incident, “From my point of view it was a red card. He was through. And if he wasn’t being fouled, he could have gone in one on one with the goalkeeper and he could have scored.

“I don’t know how it looked from the stands, but it looked like a red card to me. But it’s not up to me, and the referee has to make a decision quickly so it’s not easy for him as well. But you’ve seen the pace Mo has, no-one would have tracked him.”

In typical Reading style, as the game went on, it was clear that no goals were going to be scored, especially as Jon Dadi Bodvarsson missed an absolute sitter and it was clear that it was not going to be our day. Stam added, “It is very hard not to give anything away against opposition with quality. They had one big chance in the first half and one good opportunity second half and then they were a threat from set pieces and that final chance, a ball falls in between from a set piece and they score from it - so maybe three chances in total.

“So it feels harsh that we lost, and it’s not nice - especially at home. We created the chances, but we need to work on tapping them in. Because it’s about scoring goals and we didn’t do that.

“We could have played a bit better, but with what we did, it should have been enough to win the match. However, if you don’t finish your chances you don’t get the three points. And everyone in the dressing room is disappointed.”

Next up for the Royals is a trip to Brentford on Saturday.