Soccer
Leam Richardson thrilled by Reading display in drubbing of Mansfield
Reading manager Leam Richardson hailed a “really good night’s work” after their 5-0 rout of Mansfield in League One.
It was the Royals’ first league win of the season, at the third attempt, and initiated by a three-goal burst in nine first-half minutes from Jack Marriott, Benn Ward and George Earthy.
Marriott added another goal in the second half, his fifth of the season, and substitute Jacob Brown completed the job near the end.
“I thought that we started the game well,” Richardson said. “But there was then 10 or 15 minutes when our distances became a little bit too stretched.
“Once we got control and got used to Mansfield’s press, our distances became more consistent.
“From there, I really enjoyed it. There were some big moments in the game and some big performances from us.
“I think the final scoreline reflects a really good night’s work.
“Yes, we had a clear attacking edge. It’s all about personnel and you’re always craving that extra bit.
“In the game, in those big moments, that’s when good players become very good players. It’s down to their consistent habits.
“You can now see on our bench, we have competition, and that drives that (the consistent habits).
“We give the players all the structure and solutions in the world but it’s down to the players to execute it. That doesn’t change.
“One of the most pleasing things was that when we had that 10 or 15 minutes early on when we lost our way, we kind of dug in.
“We consolidated, we didn’t concede, and then we responded really well.
“At half time, I was probably a bit disappointed that we weren’t even further ahead.”
Reading moved up from 23rd in the League One table to 14th but Mansfield, 5-2 winners over Luton last Sunday, dropped from seventh to 12th.
“It was a strange game,” Stags manager Nigel Clough said. “For 30 minutes, I thought that we were absolutely fine.
“The home crowd were getting restless and we were controlling the game.
“We had some good situations, some chances ourselves, but in 10 or 11 minutes the game went away from us. It was a mad 11 minutes.
“We came out for the second half and we had three, probably four, chances within 10 minutes.
“Any one of those goes in and it could have been completely different.
“It was all a bit weird, a very strange game. It’s just one of those that we’ll just have to put behind us.
“But we know what we saw with our eyes tonight, there were a lot of good things in the performance.”
