Jose Gomes On Bristol City Draw: My Players Did Well

The Royals’ good form continued with a Good Friday 1-1 draw against play-off chasing Bristol City. Yakou Meite scored his fifth goal in five games early in the second half to put Reading ahead, but Bristol City equalised to secure a point.

This result means Reading sit 19th and are five points ahead of Rotherham United with three games to play. Jose Gomes was happy with his players’ performance and felt we deserved the point - here’s what he had to say to both the official club website and Football.London.

Gomes on picking up a point

“If you asked me before the game would I take a point from this game I would have said yes. But after we led for so long it feels like we lost two points so it isn’t a good feeling.”

Gomes on trying to pick up three points

“We had tasted the flavour of getting three points – and it was possible that we could get them; we made one mistake, and they scored an equaliser. What I can say is that my players did well – fought a lot, closed the route to our goal. We defended with the same formation that we played against Norwich, but a bit higher up the pitch. My players were brave and deserved at least the point that they got.

“This is the Championship. In the Championship, everything can happen – just because we are playing away against a team that are at the top end of the table, we don’t think that it is impossible to win.

“Similarly, if we play at home against a team near the bottom, we cannot guarantee that we have three points in our pocket. In each game, we have to fight, prepare to win, do our job, and then we see what happens.”

Gomes on Meite’s goal

“We prepared this free-kick combination, and the players got the result of their work. They were able to feel the success of their work, which they deserved.

“We used Andy’s speed playing wide, and Ovie played a very good pass. Sometimes in this kind of combination, a small mistake can destroy the combination. Ovie’s pass was great. Great movement and use of space from Andy, and good movement from Yakou as well in the moment to score. A very good moment for the team.”

Gomes on Meite’s form

“It’s very good for him and it’s especially good for us. Hopefully he can keep his focus during these three days and he can do the same thing on Monday.”

Gomes on Meite coming off

“The players never understand why they are being changed. Playing the number of minutes he has played, the idea was to let him rest and not push him for the 90 minutes and then not have all his energy on Monday.”

Gomes on the fans

“They were amazing - I heard there were more than 2,000 of them. It’s incredible the way they support us. And you feel it during the game. You could hear them singing, supporting and pushing us. They also deserved a good result.”

Gomes on enjoying games

“The players should enjoy their football. The way we work you can feel happiness daily in your work and when you are happy working it’s an incredible thing. The players really love to work, they are giving their maximum and they deserve this positive path we are doing together.”

Gomes on playing over Easter

“For the managers it’s hard to recover the players because Ovie was ill again. He had a small fever and if you saw him during the game he had his head down and was coughing a lot. It’s sometimes difficult to manage the fatigue of the players.

“But on the other side it’s amazing, being able to play two games in three days is incredible. You don’t have too much time to waste if you lose and too much time to celebrate if you win.”

Gomes on confidence

“Confidence is high but we are playing a strong team in West Brom on Monday. They have very good players and are playing very well. We must stop their strong points and we will start preparing for them now.”

Gomes on West Brom up next

“We have just two days to recover and prepare properly. The players will sleep, eat properly and use the days to recover for the game.”