Heartbreak for Royals (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Heartbreak for Royals

8:58am Monday 8th March 2010 in

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DESPITE seeing his side lose a two-goal lead to go out of the FA Cup at the hands of Premier League Aston Villa, Reading manager Brian McDermott said he was looking forward to watching the match highlights on television.

Reading went out of the cup at the quarter-final stage after a 4-2 defeat at the Madejski Stadium yesterday, but were outstanding in the first half and fully deserved a 2-0 lead given them by Shane Long’s brace.

“I thought we played really, really well in the first half and we were good value for a 2-0 lead,” McDermott said. “Our play was excellent and I am looking forward to watching it again on TV tonight. We could even have had more goals.”

However, Villa were always going to improve after the break and they were irresistible in the opening 12 minutes of the second period, finding the net three times.

Ashley Young got the first just over a minute after the restart, while John Carew’s quickfire double put the Premier League side ahead.

“We came up against a class side and we needed to keep it tight for the first 10 minutes after the break and we just couldn’t do that,” the Royals boss added. “We knew at half-time that they were capable of producing something and they certainly responded to whatever Martin O’Neill said.

“It wasn’t nerves. We came up against players who could be in the Champions League next year.”

Reading did their best to rally but Carew made sure it would be Villa who went through, completing his hat-trick from the penalty spot in injury-time – but McDermott was rightly proud of his side’s display.

“If you are going to lose a game, that’s the way to do it, especially in the FA Cup,” he said. “Villa have pace, power and quality all over the pitch and I think we gave them as tough a game as they have had all season.”

See The Monday Gazette for a full report.