‘It looks like we’re our own biggest opponents’
Ipswich Town 2 Reading 0
JOEY VAN DEN BERG says Reading are becoming their own worst enemies after seeing their unbeaten run end at Ipswich.
Royals had not lost in five, but gave themselves a mountain to climb at Portman Road after goals in the first 27 minutes from Callum Connolly and Joe Garner.
And while the visitors dominated possession, they rarely troubled Ipswich goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski throughout the contest as they slipped to defeat.
“It’s a very disappointing result, especially in how we conceded the goals,” said midfielder van den Berg.
“It looks like we’re our own biggest opponents and that’s very frustrating.
“If you concede quick goals like that, it’s so hard to play. We could play until next Christmas and if we keep conceding goals like that, we’ll never win a game.
“It means you have to score two, three or four and that’s not how you want to play.
“It’s like the beginning of the season when we kept conceding stupid goals, especially from set pieces.
“We need to get the solution quickly because it’s killing us at the moment.”
Having named an unchanged side for four games in a row, Jaap Stam made one switch with Tyler Blackett preferred to Liam Kelly as Leandro Bacuna moved into midfield.
But just three minutes in, Reading found themselves behind. After Bacuna lost out, Ipswich broke and played a neat one-two around van den Berg before Connolly fired into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Stam’s charges came close to levelling when a good run and cross from Chris Gunter found Dave Edwards just inside the area, but his shot was blocked on the line.
Frustration quickly took hold as both Bacuna and Mo Barrow were booked inside the opening 10 minutes and the lead was doubled before the break when Garner headed in from a corner.
Kelly and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson were both thrown on in the closing stages but in truth, Reading never looked like getting back into the contest.
“We conceded two easy goals,” said Stam.
“Then it’s going to be difficult to get back into the game. They’re dropping in deep, making it compact and just waiting for that moment to break on the counter.
“We needed to do better with our choices on the ball.”
READING: Mannone, Gunter, McShane (c), Moore, Blackett (Kelly 74), Bacuna, van den Berg, Edwards, Aluko (Bodvarsson 77), Barrow, Kermorgant.
Subs not used: Jaakkola, Ilori, Richards, Clement, Beerens.
Yellow cards: Barrow (8), Bacuna (9), McShane (52), Edwards (66)
IPSWICH: Bialkowski, Spence,
Chambers (c), Webster, Knudsen, Skuse (Bru 45), Connolly, Ward, Waghorn, Celina (Iorfa 89), Garner (Sears 90+4).
Subs not used: Crowe, Smith, Bishop, McGoldrick.
Goals: Connolly (3), Garner (27) Yellow cards: Waghorn (34), Knudsen (69), Webster (88)
Referee: Peter Bankes
Attendance: 13,832