Town boss Kieran McKenna felt there were lots of positives to take from Tuesday’s on-penalties Carabao Cup victory at Reading.

The Blues and Royals drew 2-2 before Town won only their fourth ever penalty shoot-out to claim a place in round three. The draw the following evening paired McKenna’s team with Premier Wolves at Portman Road.

“I thought it was a good game,” the Blues manager said. “I thought there was lots good about the performance, to be honest.

“Of course, when you concede a goal after however many seconds it was, it becomes a completely different night, and it was a really young, well-organised, energetic Reading team who we saw against Millwall in the first round even though it was a few players different.

“They beat Millwall 4-0 away doing some of the things that they did well the other night, so for us to go through the experience of conceding early and then to have to stay composed, dominate the ball and try and break down a really active and organised defence to get the two goals, there were lots of positives to take from that, both individually in terms of some of the performances and as a group.

“Of course, conceding the late goal in the circumstances that we did could have given a different tone to the night.

“But, on the other hand, to end up going through a penalty shoot-out and to live that experience with a group and for young Cieran Slicker, who's only played a few games of men's football, to win a penalty shoot-out and for most of the boys to take good penalties as they did and to go through it that way, is probably actually better for the spirit and for the collective memory bank than seeing it out in a more orthodox 2-1 in those conditions. 

“So lots of positives to take, of course things to improve, but I thought it was a good game and I’m delighted to go through.

“And we spoke about it with all the boys before the game, it was a big incentive to get a Premier League team. We've not played a Premier League team over the last 18 months, so we really wanted to get a Premier League team and to get Wolves at Portman Road is a great tie for us.

“A couple of previous connections with some of our players and the players are really excited for it and it will be a game to look forward to when it comes.”

Photo: TWTD

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