Ruben Selles Expected More Control From Reading In Bristol Rovers Win
The Royals made it a nine-point week with a nervy 1-0 victory.
The Royals finished the week with an amazing nine points after a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Bristol Rovers at the SCL Stadium.
The Royals were all over Rovers in the first half but the visitors defended well. Shaq Forde was sent off in the second half with Reading capitalising and Sam Smith scored the winner with 25 minutes to go. Joel Pereira was in exceptional form, making some great saves and keeping a clean sheet.
The win sees us move into sixth, four points behind Wycombe Wanderers who currently sit in second. Manager Ruben Selles was happy with the performance and result. Here is what he had to say to the Reading Chronicle.
Ruben on victory
“The performance was good today. We controlled the game from the very beginning and scored the goal after they had a man sent off. The last 10 minutes they were more direct, and we should control it a bit better but things happen.
“In the final lines we have Joel [Pereira] on the pitch. Three points and a clean sheet for us - we’re showing we’re competitive and a difficult team to beat.
“I expect us to control the game a little bit better, especially at the end. We can all agree that when they arrive into those moments, and it’s a team that has individual quality and get the second action, they created. We defended as a team and had a goalkeeper whose job is to keep the ball out of the net, and he did today.”
Ruben on Sam Smith
“Jayden [Wareham] has been working really well and put himself in the position to fight for the position. Sam is improving his level and today we saw one of his most complete games.
“That means the team is growing and that we have more than one option, especially with the schedule. We need to keep our energy levels and Sam is an exceptional player - he showed that today.”
Ruben on three successive wins for the first time
“We know where we are at Reading Football Club, we take one thing at a time. Now it is three - the most important thing is we keep getting points.
“We are almost at half of our target for the season, and we are feeling competitive in the league. If it is three, we hope at one point to make it seven, eight or 10. We try to compete and win every match.”
Ruben on squad selection
“The boys are showing that we have a squad where a lot of players can start in the line-up. We wanted some freshness in the front players and thought Mama and Kelvin - in possession - would stretch the back four.
“We would then use the space in between the lines with Ben and Harvey, which happened sometimes in the first half. We thought Sam could be fresh to apply the first pressure and make the link and double movement into the red zone and the space.
“Mainly we wanted to keep our counter-pressure levels so when we lost the ball we went straight into the action. I think the gameplan was correct.”
Ruben on Harlee Dean injury
“In the game on Tuesday, he had contact on his feet. It was nothing major in that moment but when we trained on Thursday he needed to go out as he was feeling it. The scan shows its not a big injury and we have to wait to see if he can be available for the next game or two games. Right now, it is nothing severe.”