JAAP STAM says Reading are at the stage of the season where the result is all that matters after grinding out a 2-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A forgettable contest burst into life after the restart when Yann Kermorgant diverted Danny Williams’ long-range shot past Carl Ikeme on 48 minutes.
But Wolves instantly levelled as Nouha Dicko’s low cross was turned in by a sliding Ben Marshall for his first goal for the club.
Chances were at a premium with Ali Al-Habsi the busier keeper, but Royals grabbed the winner as Paul McShane headed a John Swift free-kick into the bottom corner.
The win keeps Reading fifth in the table, still seven points clear of Fulham in seventh place ahead of the visit of Newcastle United on Tuesday night.
Stam spoke to the media after the victory –
On the game…
I think in the first half we were in control. You hope that in the second half you can continue playing like that and then hopefully create a couple more chances and eventually score. We started the second half quite well, scored that goal and then you want to keep on going.
Within the same minute you concede that equaliser and after that we struggled. They got a bit more confidence in going forward and pressing us, they won most of the second balls and they were a threat going forward and we had difficulties in controlling the game again.
It was a very difficult game and we knew from when we played them at the beginning of the season (losing 2-0) the quality that they have. They can make it very hard for you. Last time we lost by having a difficult game and today we still won so that’s good progress.
On finding a way to win…
Luckily for us, if you can’t score how we want to, by playing possession, we scored in different ways with Swift playing that free-kick into the box and McShane with a great header and in the end we’ve got the win that we needed.
On home form…
It is very important. You need to win your home games because the away games are very difficult. We lost a couple of games away from home, more than we have here, but I think that’s normal as well. You want to do well in front of your fans and do it with good football,
but that’s not always possible like today.
At the stage we are now, the most important thing is the result and getting those three points and that’s what we’ve done. I’m happy with the three points, not with how we played but you can’t have it all.
On thinking about the play-offs…
You can’t stop the players from thinking about it. It’s a logical reaction. If you’re in a certain stage of the season and you’re in the top six, everybody is thinking about it. Especially because we’ve been doing very well the whole season and been in the top six.
We’ve been third in the league for a long time, so it would be a shame to not end the season in the top six.
