Manager Neil Harris has said their are plenty of positives he can take from the EFL Cup tie against Reading, but having lost the game he’s naturally disappointed.
Heading to the Madejski Stadium for the second round tie, the hosts took the lead but Shane Ferguson quickly equalised and although Reading clearly had the better of the game in terms of the telling statistics, they couldn’t take victory until we entered extra time, wherein they scored twice to take a three one victory.
Speaking to the official site as he met with the media for his post game press conference, it was very much mixed feelings for Harris as he looked back on the game, as whilst the first half was poor, he felt we were ‘outstanding’ in our efforts in the second period.
‘With the third goal, we’ve gone to three at the back and three up front to try and score – that’s always going to leave space for the opposition to exploit. That’s Cup football. I’ve no complaints with that.’
Speaking more about the regulation time second half, he went on to say that the only thing he could really criticise was that we weren’t clinical enough.
‘I was delighted with the team’s effort. I thought some players looked a little bit rusty at times, but some of them haven’t played a lot of football lately. I made ten changes to freshen things up and it took us 30-35 minutes to get a foothold in the game – Reading dominated possession up to that point – but when Shane Ferguson scored, it changed the complexion of the second-half.’
He went on to say.
‘We adjusted at half-time and got some messages across to the players. The second-half was then outstanding. We played a lot more on the front foot and aggressive with the ball and without the ball, to win the ball back. We also showed a lot of patience to draw Reading out and hit them on the counter-attack. We should have used the ball better, though. I will also bemoan my players for their finishing – it should have been better.’
Vital Millwall on:
