The Royals’ new gaffer took positives from a 1-1 draw at Wycombe Wanderers.
After an immensely difficult week for the Royals, it was back to league action and a visit to league leaders Wycombe Wanderers.
Noel Hunt picked up an excellent point in his first game in charge. Beryly Lubala scored in the 18th minute to give the home side the lead, but Harvey Knibbs scored the equaliser shortly after to secure a point and to keep us in sixth.
Hunt was very happy with his side’s performance and to grab a point. Here is what he had to say, he spoke to the Reading Chronicle.
“I think so. With the emotions running through the camp since Thursday, to go and put on performance like that in the conditions - you’ve got to be pleased.
“I thought it was a tough game for us. I thought maybe every little decision went the way of the home team but that can happen, and you can feel a little hard done by. It was a tough condition to ref.
“It looked a penalty to me [Sam Smith] and even Chem [Campbell] had a case. We defended like warriors - their strong point is putting balls into the box. If you look at how many games they’ve won in the last four or five weeks, I thought we defended really well.
“It’s one point. We take it game by game. We’ve got a game Tuesday in the EFL Trophy and a league game on Saturday and that’s the focus.”
“If it isn’t break don’t fix it, just little bits of information on mindset. When things are a bit chaotic, can we take the sting out of it? Can we keep possession?
“I thought we did it really well in the last 10 minutes. I thought in the first half we played the conditions really well and they didn’t like it.
“In the second half, the first 25 minutes we suffered in terms of getting distance - I wanted us to be braver with the line because the wind was holding the ball up and we were getting caught in no man’s land. We got to grips with it and they stepped on to it. I’m a bit frustrated that we didn’t get a penalty or two.”
“[Losing players] is a strong possibility, we know that. We have a lot of great talent and desirable assets. If last January is anything to go by, that is a sign. We have to keep focused on what we have in the building and fight tooth and nail to keep as many as we can.
“It is a pleasure to work with these guys, but we’ve always worked this way. We’ve always been the underdog - more so now than ever. The character in the group, they’re the ones we want. As many as we can keep as possible, that’s the key.”
“They were fantastic. You could hear them all the way through, and they were class. In terms of how they kept their spirits, they backed the boys all the way through and that is what we are going to need. We are going to really need them over the next four to six months so the more we can get, the better.”
