Ruben Selles Wants Reading To Build On Swindon Town Cup Win

It’s been a long time since we had a local derby, with Swindon Town visiting the Select Car Leasing Stadium in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night.

The Royals came out victorious with an excellent 5-0 win. Goals through Harlee Dean, Paul Mukairu and a hat-trick from Harvey Knibbs secured the victory.

Manager Ruben Selles was pleased with what he saw from his young side. Here is what he had to say; he spoke to the official club website and Reading Chronicle.

Selles on the victory

“It was a positive night – we showed that we want to control the game from the very beginning. It is difficult to get that for 100 or more minutes, but we did a good job and what we needed to do, and we had some positive things tonight.

“We had a clear idea from the start and tried to play together and put the opposition under pressure. We like the feeling of victory! We can build on that.

“Every player on the pitch was good. We came with the intention to play football in the way that we want to do it… to be intense, to be vertical as much as we can, win the ball as high as possible and force the opposition to kick long and win it back.

“We had combinations all over the pitch – lots of good things.

“We take it game by game, but the cups bring the opportunity to play with a bit more free on the mental side. We need to transform those feelings and try to play with the same kind of flow in the league.

“On days like today, things connect. We need to try to do it more often.

“It is always good to win games, no matter what is the competition. It happened today and we will try to continue with that feeling.

“It was good to see a good atmosphere for a cup game – a lot of fans here supporting us, and with the rivalry too. It was good to be part of it.”

Selles on Knibbs hat-trick

“Scoring goals is always important, especially for the front players. He got his goals today and hopefully, he can score more in the league, and we can have good results.”

Selles on Boyce-Clarke injury

“The last 24 hours has been a little chaotic on that because Joel [Pereira] got injured yesterday in the warm-up and Coniah got injured today in the warm-up to the game. It is what it is. Sometimes these things happen. David was ready to go, and we could give the debut Tom.”

Selles on Holmes sub

“It looks like he was tired. We need to see more on Monday.”

Selles on returning injuries

“Mamadi [Camara] is close and Sam Smith is close, training with the group. They are not completely ready, hopefully, next week one or two can be available for the game.”

Selles on administration rumours

“Nothing new. I haven’t had any communication from the club so as far as I know there is no intention, but it can be that tomorrow is different. As far as I know, there is nothing in the administration right now.”

Selles on making changes in cups

“It is a routine that we want to do because I think we have the players to do it. They are working well and wait to play. They know what they are doing. We need to develop our talented players and I think the cups are a good time to do that, and in the league. Today we have shown that we have a really good academy and the players coming up are ready to fight for a spot.”

Selles on Swindon rivalry

“We know and people are always putting us in context. It was a good Tuesday night with a good environment on the pitch. Inside the stadium, it was a really healthy rivalry. There is always someone who tries to go out of the norm, but I think it was good to see our fans supporting us and being with the boys.”