Noel Hunt is excited for Reading’s last game of the Sky Bet League One season with the Royals remaining in the mix for a play-off place.
Hunt’s team have lost only once in their last eight games on the road and they weathered a storm at the Memorial Stadium to eventually see off Bristol Rovers 2-0 and stay in the chase for the top six.
Reading will try to leapfrog Leyton Orient in the table to finish the campaign in the final play-off spot, and the manager picked out his goalkeeper for praise for helping put the club in that position.
“It was a tough game. To be fair to Bristol Rovers they gave it everything, they really did,” said Hunt.
“We needed Joel [Pereira] to make a couple of saves, not more than the one at a set-play in the second half – it was a great header, it was an equally good save.
“We had a team performance. The way we dug in and defended when we had to as a team, everyone, I thought we were really good.
“We spoke at half-time about keep working the ball and switching the play and we knew that chance would come – and it did and it fell to Lewis Wing. Great finish and we were comfortable after that.”
Of his goalkeeper – who made five good saves to preserve a clean sheet – Hunt added: “That’s what he’s there for. He’s been brilliant. We love him to bits. He’s buzzing, delighted for him.”
Bristol Rovers head coach Inigo Calderon was despondent as Rovers lost an eighth game in nine League One matches.
Lewis Wing’s eighth league goal of the season after 67 minutes and Chem Campbell’s added-time effort leaves the Pirates staring at relegation
“Something is not working,” he explained. “The first hour I was really happy with the performance – it was not easy to perform that way after the last defeat.
“I asked the boys to again show passion against a difficult team. And the first hour I think we did that. We were better than them and we had more chances. But we didn’t score and then they score, and we are not strong enough to come back from that.
“Today was not the problem [if Rovers are relegated]. You have 44 games – if we were in this situation it’s obvious we did something bad.”
