Jaap Stam On Stevenage FA Cup Victory

Sheffield Wednesday will be our opponents in the fourth round of the FA Cup after a 3-0 victory against Stevenage on Tuesday night. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson scored a hat-trick - wearing two different kits - to secure our place in the next round.

Jaap Stam felt that the win should give the players confidence going back into the league, he told the Official Club Website:

“It’s never easy to win a game like this - we know how they can play and we saw that in the tie away from home.

“In their style of play, they can make it very difficult. They play very direct, when they had possession at the start they played balls in over the top, they headed it back in with the second balls, so it was a battle.

“We just needed to find our rhythm get into our way of playing. And we needed to find a moment where we could take control.

“Could we get into our rhythm, could we dictate the play. It wasn’t easy, but we got into our stride, went forward and scored two goals at the end of the first half.

“After that, you need to protect that clean sheet and look to score that third one, and that’s what we did in the second half. There were things we could have done better, of course, but at the end of day it’s a very good 3-0 win for us.”

So, Reading will face fellow Championship side Sheffield Wednesday on Friday 26 January, Stam continued:

“It’s good that we’re playing over there. Wednesday are a great club. But you never know in the FA Cup, sometimes special can always happen.

“It’s always nice to do well in the cup, because it’s nice to play against the biggest teams - and that’s the opportunity you can get if you keep doing well in the FA Cup, keep progressing through the rounds.

“And a win like tonight’s is also good for the confidence of the team as well... a win that saw us scoring good goals from good attacks, playing good football. That’s promising for the team,

“Every game you play in and win, gives you that bit extra, a certain feeling. So if you get a result like this in the FA Cup that gives the team an extra boost.

“And it was important for the players who played tonight to show that they can make it more difficult for myself to make choices going forward.”

Next up for the Royals are Brentford at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.