Ruben Selles calls for Reading to be ruthless as torrid away run continues

Posted Sunday, November 12, 2023 by PA

Ruben Selles wants his Reading team to be more ruthless after their woeful away form continued with a 3-2 defeat at Shrewsbury.

Sam Smith and Dom Ballard put the Royals 2-0 up inside the opening 15 minutes and they looked on course to put a winless run on the road to bed.

But Shrewsbury pulled one back through Tom Bayliss before half-time, and then two Shrews defenders spoilt the party in additional time.

Chey Dunkley bundled home in the second minute of stoppage time, and then Jason Sraha, with virtually the last kick of the game, smashed home the winner.

Selles, whose side have now failed to win away from home in the league for over a year, said: “It is painful; it has been like that for some games. I think we did a lot of good things during the game.

“We were leading 2-0 and we should have been leading more than two, but we didn’t finish the job.

“Second half, we had situations in which we were not ruthless enough, and at the end we were not ruthless enough to keep the result or to get something positive.

“My team would defend the corners better (if he had his time again).

“We will analyse, but we need to be more ruthless in the manner and the one-on-ones.

“We know how much it means to us to get points away and how much it means to us to get the three points.

“We cannot concede a goal in the centre of our goal with the ball just below our hips.

“We need to be more ruthless in the marking, in the clearance and attacking the space, we need to do it better.

“We need to demand more from each other.”

Shrews boss Matt Taylor said: “What I can do is talk about the first 15 minutes, which is unacceptable.

“Great, the emotion, great, we won the game, but people have got jobs to do, and they do not do them.

“That first 15 minutes really disappoints me. As a group, that is not what we are about.

“We scored a really good goal to get back in the game, you are given roles and responsibilities and what I cannot do is come out here and brush it under the carpet.

“I cannot come out here and not own it, from my perspective, that first 15 minutes is unacceptable.

“We got the second goal and there seemed to be an uprising in belief in the players.

“I must make a special mention for Jason because he gets that moment tonight.

“Having seen how hard he has worked and understanding his injury history and coming into the team at a difficult time, he has really taken his opportunity.”