Ulderink: Reading are in a relegation battle - 7M sport

Ulderink: Reading are in a relegation battle



Posted Sunday, March 18, 2018 by PA

Ulderink: Reading are in a relegation battle

Assistant manager Andries Ulderink pulled no punches after Reading slipped to within three points of the Championship relegation zone following the 3-2 defeat at Norwich.

The Royals twice pulled a goal back after going two down at Carrow Road but were unable to get a third as their wretched run was stretched to just one win in 18 games.

“One hundred percent we are in a relegation battle,” said Ulderink, who was standing in for under-pressure boss Jaap Stam at the post-match press conference.

“We have being saying for some time now that it is not going to be easy to stay away from the bottom three.

“I thought this match rather summed up our season so far. We started the game very poorly and it was really disappointing to see us concede two soft goals from corners.

“In the second half we improved a lot, although it was not perfect, got a goal back and created some good chances to maybe come away with a point.

“The mood in the dressing room afterwards was one of disbelief – about how we could be so poor in the first half.

“That’s the way it has been – we are just not consistent enough. We are capable of playing some good football but sometimes we can be really poor and we have to change that.

“Now we have got 13 days to prepare for our next game and we all need to work really hard to make sure we are ready for that one.”

Stam faced chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ from his own fans after substituting the impressive Liam Kelly early in the second half and Ulderink said the decision had been forced on the Reading bench.

“Liam was playing well but he has had a number of injuries recently and he was starting to cramp up. We had to get him off the field but hopefully he will be okay the next game.”

Norwich took a firm grip of the game in the opening period, going in at the break 3-1 up.

Two headers from corners in the 14th and 26th minutes, from Mario Vrancic and then Grant Hanley, put the Canaries in control, only for Kelly to quickly reduce the arrears following a scramble in the home box.

There was still time before the break for James Maddison to score Norwich’s third from the penalty spot after he had been upended by keeper Anssi Jaakkola.

Youngster Sam Smith’s first league goal for the Royals reduced the arrears early in the second period but that was the end of the scoring as Norwich finally picked up a win after a run of six draws and a defeat.

Head coach Daniel Farke said: “I think it was a well deserved win against a good side and I am very pleased for the team and also for the supporters.

“It was an entertaining game for them and it was good that they saw us score three goals and created lots of chances after a number of frustrating games here recently.

“We haven’t scored three goals many times this season so that was also good to see. It could easily have been 4-2 or 5-2, it was that sort of game.

“Although we know we have drawn too many games, we have now lost just twice in 17 matches and I think that shows we are on the right track. I think today’s performance also shows that.

“Now it’s a case of focusing on the final eight games of the season and getting as high up the table as possible.”

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