BORO BLAST AT ‘TIME WASTERS’
Karanka: Ref failed to hurry up Royals
MIDDLESBROUGH head coach Aitor Karanka accused Reading of excessive time-wasting after his side suffered their second successive home defeat in the Championship.
Simon Cox’s seventh-minute strike meant the Royals took the three points south, but Boro felt they were allowed to get away with constant time-wasting throughout the game.
The Teessiders created chances to get back into the game, which had six minutes added on, but Karanka felt they were unable to get going because of constant stoppages.
“Their time-wasting did put our team off their rhythm, but this is normal sometimes,” Karanka said.“I’m starting to get a little bit tired of it and I don’t like that.
“It’s always the same on the bench. We can’t speak with the fourth official or the linesman.
“Their (Reading’s) bench is always laughing and joking with them, but I am a little bit concerned with the time they were taking.
“They were letting the keeper have the ball in his hands for 30 seconds and did not do anything about it.
“We had lots of chances. We had Kike, Patrick Bamford, Luke Williams, Adam Reach and Albert Adomah, players who can score, but it was difficult for them because the other team didn’t want to play and we lost a lot of time.
“It was difficult to keep the tempo of the game.”
Reading boss Nigel Adkins was again forced to name several youth players in his squad, and he paid tribute to his team after they earned their second league win of the season.
Adkins said: “It’s a great result for us.We had 16 players unavailable.
“The players put themselves on the line and we scored a super goal from Simon Cox.
“We’ve got a young side that has come to a very hard place and got a great result.
“We had seven academy players on the field, so for me it’s a very good result.
“We’ve had a tough week with a lot of travelling, but we’ve got two clean sheets and two victories. You can see the spirit of the academy players and the senior players together.
“Now we’ve got an opportunity to get some players back in the next two weeks.”
Middlesbrough started well, with Adam Reach and Albert Adomah both thwarted by Royals keeper Adam Federici.
However, Boro were punished for not taking their chances when Reading took the lead with their first opportunity.
Ryan Edwards received the ball from Oliver Norwood and sent a looping ball over the top to an unmarked Cox. He had time to take a touch before sending a cheeky lob over Tomas Mejias.
Leadbitter and Lee Tomlin both went close from range for Boro, before Spanish striker Kike saw a low shot saved by Federici.
Adam Reach then sent a dangerous cross to Clayton at the back post, but his first-time shot sailed wide of the mark.
Karanka’s men missed a great opportunity to draw level on the stroke of half time when Leadbitter’s corner found the unmarked Kike, but his powerful header flew over.
Reading continued to protect their lead in the second half, but their time-wasting, particularly by Federici, infuriated the hosts as they chased an equaliser.
Karanka introduced Patrick Bamford in the hope of injecting some energy into his side, but it was Reach who went closest to leveling when his shot deflected off Chris Gunter and on to the post.
In the 90th minute, Leadbitter sent a dangerous ball into the box that Federici missed, but Kike and Bamford also failed to connect at the back post.