Reading Football Club News

• Nickname:Royals
• Founded:1871
• Manager:Brian McDermott

• Ground:Madejski Stadium
• Capacity:24,200

Lita escapes criticism

12 Jun 2007 - 09:06:10

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England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce refused to castigate Leroy Lita after the Reading striker missed a late penalty in the goalless draw with the Czech Republic in the European Championship.

Lita fired wide from the spot with two minutes left after the Czech side had gone close to snatching a winner themselves when Daniel Pudil hit the woodwork with a free-kick.

"We don't look at Leroy and think any worse of him," said Pearce. "It's part and parcel of the game.

"One thing's for sure, he has the confidence to take one and in the next game he'll probably have the confidence to do it again.

"You do everything to the n'th degree, and that includes practising penalties, so I know full well we've done everything we can and we have a no-excuse environment.

"We had opportunities before the penalty to seal the game, so we're disappointed, we can play a lot better than that.

"For 90 minutes the game was there to be won but we weren't good enough on the day. It might be a bit tougher in the next game and we have to make sure we play better."