O’Neill Upbeat – Coppell Happy

Martin O’Neill said after the 2-0 loss to Reading today:

‘We were beaten, but I’m still pretty upbeat.’

Adding on the official site: ‘After the Newcastle game, this was almost a case of déjà vu. We played some good stuff, but didn’t get the result. There’s no doubt that the first half hour, barring a chance we should have taken, belonged to Reading. They caused us problems from set-pieces. But we gradually came into it in the last 15 minutes of the first-half and I felt on the whole we bossed it after half-time. We played well and had some decent chances, but the ball just wouldn’t sit for us at the right moment.’

‘I just feel at the moment that we’re not getting the results on the road, but the performances have been pretty good. I thought we had some really great chances – on another day Gabby would have headed in before half-time – but the goal just wouldn’t come for us. But we have created chances, we look to be a threat and I thought Maloney added to that threat for us today. Overall, we were beaten, but I’m still pretty upbeat.’

Victorious boss Steve Coppell – the sort of man who SHOULD be in charge of England, told Sky Prem Plus after the game: ‘It was very pleasing, in the first half an hour we were terrific. With not getting the second goal I thought we may have missed the boat, they started coming into it and had some decent half-opportunities. The second half was a reflection of the pitch, a lot of passes went awry and it was bitty on occasion. I still felt we did just enough to get the win. The second goal was a terrific goal to get the points.’