Reading Football Club News

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

• Ground:Madejski Stadium
• Capacity:24,200

Royals revel in comeback

21 Aug 2006 - 10:04:00

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Reading manager Steve Coppell was delighted with the spirit of his Royals side after they marked their Premiership debut with a superb 3-2 comeback win over Middlesbrough.

Boro raced into a two-goal lead thanks to Stewart Downing and Yakubu, before Reading gave their fans something to cheer about as Dave Kitson, Steve Sidwell and Leroy Lita turned the game on its head.

Coppell said afterwards: "It was an exciting performance for sure, both managers will have certain aspects to complain about, but from our point of view it was a terrific performance to come back from two down.

"We started very nervously and were very anxious, but when the second goal went in the players just seemed to say 'sod it' and then they relaxed.

"The timing of the first goal was critical and when it went in, Boro seemed to be looking for half-time while we built up a tempo. I certainly didn't want half-time to come.

"A disappointing start was pure anxiety, there wasn't necessarily an indication of that in the dressing room beforehand, but there has been such a build-up to this being our first ever Premiership game, that it was human nature for them to react in the way that they did.

"For the first 20 minutes our passing was poor, but those players didn't want to wimp out and they started stringing passes together and doing the things they had been doing last season."