Reading boss Jaap Stam hails determination after beating Burton

Posted Wednesday, January 31, 2018 by PA

Reading boss Jaap Stam was relieved to see his side secure a first win in nine Championship games with a gritty 3-1 victory at bottom-of-the-table Burton.

Two goals from Icelandic striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson helped to lift the pressure on the former Dutch international defender.

The striker, who signed from Wolves, started off the scoring with a simple tap-in after 20 minutes before rounding off the scoring with a cool finish from Mo Barrow’s low cross after skipper Chris Gunter had restored the visitors’ lead.

Lucas Akins had equalised from the penalty spot for Burton when on-loan midfielder Martin Samuelsen was bundled over in the box by Dave Edwards.

“Going in 1-0 up is a big boost to the team after the run we have been on,” said Stam. “We were pushing for a second but then we concede an equaliser from a penalty that I don’t think is a penalty.

“Then it is really important for the players how they react after that. We have had periods where after we concede one we have conceded another one but tonight the players dealt with it very well. They kept on pushing and kept on going to make sure they got the second and third goals.”

It was not a typically flowing performance from Reading but Stam praised the way his side stuck at it on a tricky night at the Pirelli.

“Burton are a difficult side to play football against. They are very direct and winning second balls and sometimes it is difficult to play the sort of game you want and we had to dig in deep and work very hard to get that result.”

Burton boss Nigel Clough was left bemoaning defensive errors again as he watched his side extend their winless run on home turf to 11 matches, with just one point taken from those games.

“The first two goals were poor from out point of view” he said when asked where things had gone wrong for his side. “I didn’t see Reading make any mistakes and give anything away tonight. They gave a penalty away which I thought their lad was unlucky with but good players don’t make mistakes.

“Last season we were much more consistent than we have been this season and that is why we are struggling at home.

“We can take positives from getting Darren Bent and Martin Samuelsen out on the pitch for us tonight, two new faces for us and we got Liam Boyce on the bench.

“We just keep beating ourselves at the moment. At one-one we should be in the ascendancy but someone switches off from a corner and we are two-one down chasing the game again.”