Mark Bowen 'Delighted' By Manner Of Blackpool Win

Reading are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup after a 2-0 victory against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. Lucas Boye and Jordan Obita secured the goals to send us through to the next round with a fixture against either Carlisle or Cardiff. Mark Bowen was delighted with the result, and he spoke to GetReading after the game.

Bowen on the game

“I am delighted. I made my mind up to play some senior players but youngsters as well. Coming to a place like Blackpool, I knew it was going to be a battle, but it never became that because our decisions on the ball were really sharp and clever at times.

“We handed the game well throughout. We were professional. I thought Tom McIntyre was absolutely awesome at the back. I’m delighted for the lads and really proud.”

Bowen on defensive solidity

“Walker saved us at times and the others - what a performance Burley put in and Howe had a really good game. There wasn’t anybody who was struggling. They all stood up and looked proper players with good decisions on the ball, good passing and they created problems. We hit the bar twice, the post once so it was a really accomplished performance from a young side.”

Bowen on McCleary in midfield

“He is an intelligent player and he has the capacity, when you put him in a certain situation, he makes the right decisions. When he came back into the team, he proved to me he’s not just a right winger, he can do other jobs as well. I gave him the responsibility of captain and he led all the way through the game - he gave sound bits of advice to the youngsters around him.”

Bowen on Charlie Adam’s late cameo

“He was bantering on at me [to bring him on] and I hoped to give him a run out if things were going well. I was praying he didn’t pick up an injury!”

Bowen on going back to Reading

“It’s a long trip home. I said to the guys before they left yesterday, if they are going to travel all this way, make sure you give the fans something to go home with. Don’t just go through the motions, do the right things and if you do that then we’ll get a result and that’s what we did.”

Bowen on Millwall on Saturday

“It’s always a test when you go to Millwall. We have to make sure we prepare right and focus on the job at hand.”

Bowen on injuries

“Joao is going to be out for two to three months. He’s got a bad hamstring injury involving the tendon so we have to make the right decisions on what we do with it.”

Bowen on the transfer latest

“It would be remiss not to [look for a replacement] because you lose a player of his quality, we have to make sure - if we are going to have a push [for the play-offs] we’ll try our best to do so and we’ll look at the situation.”

Bowen on Cardiff or Carlisle in the fourth round

“I didn’t want to say - you need games because if you win it you’ve got Cardiff coming up. I think that would be doing them a disservice. They might think ‘are we the back-up squad?’ Genuinely they are not because they all showed they can get into the side and push on. I’m glad I didn’t say that to the players. Everybody likes a cup run and the fans are no different I’m sure.”