Stam rues a lack of luck
SONE ALUKO admits he did not expect Reading to be struggling down the wrong end of the table when he joined from Fulham over the summer.
A penalty from captain Grant Leadbitter, coupled with Britt Assombalonga’s second-half header handed Middlesbrough a 2-0 victory at Madejski Stadium to heap more misery on the Royals, who also saw Tiago Ilori taken to hospital after a sickening collision with team-mate Liam Moore.
And Aluko says there is only one way to get out of the slump Reading find themselves in.
“When I came here I didn’t expect this,” said the forward.
“But I’m not that surprised by anything in football.
“Especially in this league you have to work and fight for every point.
“All the teams improve and get stronger so there’s no guarantee that because we were third last year, you are going to have the same season next year.
“The only way out of this is working hard and focussing on our game-plan and executing that well.
“The manager said keep believing in it, keep working hard and that you don’t become a bad team or a bad player overnight.
“Confidence can dip but you have to be brave, brave on the ball, going forward and taking risks and it will come. I believe it will.”
Jaap Stam made a big call in his team selection, handing a first Championship start to teenage striker Sam Smith.
Captain Paul McShane also returned to the 11 alongside John Swift and Liam Kelly while last season’s talisman Yann Kermorgant was named among the substitutes for the first time this season following injury.
Royals started brightly, but it was the visitors who took the lead on 14 minutes from the penalty spot.
Cyrus Christie clipped a cross into the box which was only half cleared by Ilori, allowing Assombalonga to pounce and Joey van den Berg brought him down.
Up stepped captain Leadbitter, making no mistake with his powerful spot kick nestling high into the net.
Royals looked to reply as Aluko linked up nicely with John Swift before striking just over the bar from 20 yards.
But a nasty clash of heads added to Reading’s woes midway through the first half, as Moore and Ilori collided before falling to the ground covered in blood. Both required treatment and Ilori was eventually stretchered off with Moore returning to the field with bandaged head.
The six-minute delay halted any Royals momentum and in truth they struggled to create many openings for the remainder of the contest.
Their best chance before the half was out fell to Smith, but the youngster was beaten to Chris Gunter’s inviting low cross by defender Daniel Ayala.
Smith continued to try and stretch the Boro back-line after the restart, but the visitors were looking lively on the break.
McShane was guilty of allowing Assombalonga to breeze past him too easily and the forward raced through into the box before shooting across goal and narrowly wide.
And Boro doubled their lead on 74 minutes, with Jonny Howson’s cross from the right powerfully met by Assombalonga, who headed home from deep inside the box.
Stam furiously kicked a tray of water bottles in frustration and despite introducing Kermorgant, who came close to scoring the dying minutes, the game was lost. And the manager once again put the ball in club’s court as to whether he is the right man or not to arrest this disappointing start. “We don’t have any luck,” said Stam. “Sometimes you have periods like this. You need to deal with that, learn from that and hopefully we can turn that around.
“I like the club very much.
“If somebody else can make better results or do it better then they need to make that decision.
“This is how it is. We work very hard as a team, we try to get everything out of it but if there’s somebody out there who can do it better, then they need to make that decision.”
READING: Mannone; McShane (c), Ilori (Blackett 29), Moore, Gunter; van den Berg (Barrow 68), Kelly (Kermorgant 77), Swift; Aluko, Beerens, Smith.
Subs not used: Jaakkola, Edwards, Clement, Popa.
Yellow card: McShane (45+1)
MIDDLESBROUGH: Randolph; Christie, Ayala, Gibson, Fabio; Downing, Howson, Leadbitter (c) (Forshaw 76), Tavernier (Johnson 62); Braithwaite (Bamford 89), Assombalonga. Subs not used: Konstantopoulos, Friend, Fry, Traore.
Goals: Leadbitter (pen) (14), Assombalonga (74)
Yellow card: Assombalonga (49)
Referee: Oliver Langford
Attendance: 17,928 (inc. 1,913 away)
By TOM CROCKER tcrocker@wokinghampaper.co.uk