Boss Paul Jewell admitted that his side were soundly beaten as Reading left Portman Road with a 3-1 victory. The Town manager was at a loss to explain such a muted performance.

Jewell said: “It was so flat it was unbelievable. I’m at a loss to explain that. The one thing we’ve had in most of the games is endeavour, I’m not saying there was no endeavour, we just looked flat, we looked leggy and we looked tired.

“I’m not using that as an excuse because they’ve had as many games as us, they were better than us in all areas tonight and we were soundly beaten.”

The Blues boss says losing Jimmy Bullard to a hamstring injury was a blow but that the rest of the side failed to match their previous performances: “Jimmy has a hamstring injury. He had a fitness test this morning and we were quite hopeful he might come through, he was a bit tight after the game on Saturday.

“He had the test this morning and when he went into a 60% run he could feel it. You just can’t play with a hamstring, so it was a disappointment to lose him, but we’ve got to do better than we did tonight.

“I think losing Jimmy was a huge loss to us but there didn’t seem any spark to the team at all tonight from anybody.

“We were flat, were second to every ball. The first goal was disappointing and was always going to be key. We never really put enough pressure on our goal, and they always looked a threat.”

Town had one or two chances in the second half, but Jewell admitted that his side deserved little from the game: “It would have been masking a multitude of sins. I think you’ve always got to be honest, and we just didn’t play well enough tonight.”

Reading boss Brian McDermott was delighted with his side’s performance: “That’s as a good an away performance as you’ll see in the Championship, let alone Reading.

“As we didn’t have Jimmy Kebe, Jay Tabb and Jobi McAnuff we played a different way tonight and everyone carried out their jobs really well. With 10 minutes left we changed back to 4-4-2 and we got the two late goals, which were very useful.”

Photo: Action Images

DJ_Kesgrave added 09:20 - Mar 9 That's the end of the dead cat bounce.
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pitseablue added 09:22 - Mar 9 Reading are not world beaters...As has been said before we made them look good. Just have to face facts we are only a mid table team at best. But i am sure that Paul Jewell will get it right. I can see a lot of changes in the summer at least I hope so.
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brittaniaman added 09:35 - Mar 9 Shame really, we have now dropped to 16th, Norris is not the same player we know of, but he has now got 2 games rest.We miss a dominant midfielder and striker, average teams are all hovering around us in the table, I would have liked to have thought that we were a little above average now, but I suppose I am wrong after last night ????. Scotland tries hard but the ball just kept bouncing off him, Drury tired very quickly 2nd half, but that is expected !!! Watching Jewell on the touchline, one could see he was not too pleased with the performance of his players.

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pepperot123 added 09:41 - Mar 9 Odea was very poor last night, back to playing centre half at full back again. In the first half on a number of occasions Martin had the ball had drawn 2/3 reading players in and was looking to play the ball into the channel for Odea to run on to but he was scared to cross the half way line. He managed it once in the second half when he got a good cross in and we nearly scored but I thought he looked uncomfortable all night. Surely Shane Oconner is a better choice at left back when playing Jewells pass and move football.

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brian_a_mul added 09:44 - Mar 9 Dont forget that Reading have it all to play for and are chasing down a playoff spot. Where as we are midtable zone and in fairness the players have worked hard the last few months to get there. Reading have real quality up front with Hunt and Long. Two quick, tenacious strikers who harass defenders, chase balls and are good finishers. They are not the biggest but Long can leap like a salmon and is strong, sturdy and has great feet. I think he is in the running for Champ player of the year. He battered Liverpool in the Cup last year. They are by no means an extraordinary team but with quatity up front it gives them an edge.

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brian_a_mul added 09:48 - Mar 9 I agree Pepperrot, give O Connor at shot at LB. He is similar to Martin Kelly at Liverpool. A revelation when allowed to get forward and threathen on the wings.
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bluelady added 10:19 - Mar 9 i actually thought O Dea did ok as did a number around me. He did press on quite a bit so not sure why someone said he wouldnt cross the half way line and for me showed Edwards how to push on and defend..... That said Kennedys calms and natural leadership was naturally missed and lets hope he is back soon. shows for me whilst its good to go down the leagues to get some up and coming players particularly strikers, you really need players like Bullard and Kennedy who have experience and can lead a team. That was clearly missing yesterday. Personally glad Norris got the ban, i dont think he is fully recovered from injury, seemed worried about going in for tackles he would normally have been doing all game, was off the pace and at one point was clutching his ankle and limping. Hopefully he will come back refreshed in ten days time. for me not a natural leader though, when he is having a bad day he seems incapable of raising others......

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Lightningboy added 10:28 - Mar 9 No point getting too down after 1 defeat..obviously after last night's result Bullard is a must sign this summer but we can't keep relying on Jimmy..the rest of the team - especially Scotland & Priskin need to pull their fingers out & the defence/goalkeeper are far too erratic..we need a big "captain" at the back in the vein of Butcher/Mowbray/DeVos. Let's just get past that 50 point mark asap please!

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Bluejake added 10:30 - Mar 9 Disappointing night all round with every player looking off the pace. Felt sorry for Scotland as he put in a as good a shift as anyone (having said that though, he traps a ball further than most of our players can shoot it!) but playing him as a lone striker at home doesn't give the right message - surely 4-4-2 would be a better declaration of intent. Edwards was awful and can't see him staying after the summer and a solid overlapping fullback is desperately needed together with a more potent striker. I think there will be big changes in the PR personnel at the end of the season, so let the revolution start then and in the meantime perhaps give a few of the young guns a chance to show what they can do in the first team.

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blue_em_away added 10:33 - Mar 9 Come on people.... Surely you know full backs do not push forward if the team is playing 5 in midfield. They support from behind, and other midfielders are to support wingers. If you switch to 4 4 2 that's a different story.
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bluelady added 10:42 - Mar 9 blue_em_away agree think we have played a 433 in recent games (Portsmouth) when we really pushed on, but last night was clearly a 4-5-1 and we still had no control of midfield... The rest of the season is about getting 6 points for safety then trying out differant combinations, differant players and putting out feelers for who to sign in summer, so last night was depressing but not end of the world.

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blue_em_away added 10:57 - Mar 9 bluelady - We will be safe, no problem. Last night..... A positive from it is, you learn more from a defeat than a win.
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WREXHAM_BLUE added 11:15 - Mar 9 WarkyWonderLand... hear, hear! Agree 100%.
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DJ_Kesgrave added 11:20 - Mar 9 shows how stupid Norris is. 0-3 down and decides to get himself booked and the next weekend off so he can go shopping. a sign of an average player is too many bookings. he can't live with the pace in the championship. i think it would be best for all if he moved on. let's hope PJ can have some real money so he can go after some real players. COYFP!
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pepperot123 added 11:32 - Mar 9 blue em away, I accept your point about the 5 in midfield but on a number of occasions there were gaps appearing wide for Odea to exploit but he didnt have the confidence to push on into the space that Martin had created. If space opens up and the full back pushes on then it is up to one of those midfeild players to cover the full back, maybe thats just because Odea is naturally a centre half. On the other side Edwards is possibly too much the other way and at times gets caught forward and maybe thats because he is a natural wide midfielder so I am aware we need a balance but would really like to see Oconner given a run of games after his performance against Leicester, as long as he has recovered from his injury. Having said that I am nit picking, over the last couple of months the improvement has been there for all to see and I am confident we are heading in the right direction.

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phumph added 12:17 - Mar 9 Out played by a good footballing team. ok can live with that. But out sung by 247 away fans. The atmosphere last night was flatter than the teams performance. And the pancakes i had before the game. Come on people, we only ever seem to support the team when were winning. The SB Stand was silent last night. Really disappointing and slightly embarrassing. We need to raise our game and help the boys on the pitch.

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StowTractorBoy added 13:04 - Mar 9 Thats Barnsley, Derby and Reading who have now accoridng to their bosses put in their best performances of the season away from home. Obviously our pitch is a great attraction to the likes of these Clubs but sometimes I wonder if it does help us as the playing surface is so good. Anyway thats bye the bye but what I took from last night is that PJ has a massive job on his hands and will do well to turn around the players we have into a promotion challenging team. The body language of Norris tells me he is off and in my opinion so will O'Dea be off as he is not good enough. We need more pace in the team as Reading made is look like statues at times and were slick in their movement. A disappointing night at the office and capped by the Norwich win - I really think they will go up this season - perish the thought. Shows what can be done with low profile players and without spending vast sums of money. All thats left for us now is to get the 6 points required and of course beat Norwich.

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NSL added 13:19 - Mar 9 Perhaps the reason for the quiet crowd was the fact we had only just heard that Bullard was injured, gutted and they then lined up with Scotland on his own up front. Everyone knew what was coming. Unfortunately there was no creativity in midfield. Grant, YOU MUST DO MORE. We are desperate for a 20 goal striker - well we have one, playing on the left wing! I would rather see Civelli or even Peters play in that position with Connor pushed up front alongside JS. We might then have a chance.

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stringtheory added 13:21 - Mar 9 Obviously all Clegg's fault - Come on Cleggy sort it out!
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TimmyH added 13:54 - Mar 9 Poor result! first and foremost Reading are a team capable of playing very good football. just look at their cup record of beating Premiership teams over the last couple of years but what makes it doubly disappointing is that you'd expect them to have one eye on the cup this weekend but that obviously was not the case. It's about time we started getting a bit more consistent as other people have mentioned particularly at home as we have lost 8 games already! Obviously missing Bullard doesn't help but you don't build a team around 1 player!

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Ipswich24 added 14:26 - Mar 9 We need Shane Long lets move heaven and earth to land him he shew Scotland how the lone striker system should work hold up play was exceptional has good control, useful in air and has pace. Please lets break the bank to bring him in
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blue_em_away added 14:57 - Mar 9 pepperot123 - point taken but.... If Odea is pushing forward to help Martin with 5 in the middle we will quickly loose our shape. IMO the only guy who should cover a left full back is the left winger when we play 4 5 1. This formation SHOULD be an instant 4 3 3 when we have the ball with wingers tucking in when the play is switched to help out the striker.
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pepperot123 added 16:39 - Mar 9 blue em away - agree about the loss of shape and yes it should be Martin /Wickham covering Odea once he had gone beyond them but he just didnt look comfortable going forward, and this in turn slowed the attack down and it either petered out or we started playing hopefull long cross feild balls that werent coming off. I would just be happier with a natural full back playing that role. Only my opinion of how I saw it on the night but respect your view.

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brian_a_mul added 17:12 - Mar 9 Hey Ipswich24 Long will be playing in Premier League next season regardless of what Reading do this season. If Wolves stay up dont be surprised if they buy Long & pair him up with Kevin Doyle for next season. Now that would be an awesome pair. He would be great for us to get him but he is beyond us. Billy Sharpe is a realistic target.
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TractorRoyNo1 added 18:40 - Mar 9 Keane out!
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