Richardson Praises Reading for “proud” victory at MK Dons

Reading manager, Leam Richardson has praised his Royals for a “proud” 5-1 victory at MK Dons.

Paddy Lane’s 38th-minute finish gave Reading a half-time lead before Cohen Bramall’s own-goa, Kyrell Lisbie’s brace and Jacob Brown’s effort sealed victory, despite having conceded a 85th-minute consolatory goal to MK Dons’ Aaron Collins to miss out on a clean sheet.

The result meant that Reading climbed to sixth in the League One table and Richardson was left pleased at the performance of both players and fans.

“Really proud. Proud of the players, proud of the fans.” explained Richardson to RoyalsTV on the support of fans and motivation for the players.

“When they bring the numbers like we do today, you want to make sure they go home and that the drive back is a pleasant one. I thought the performance deserved the result today.”

Richardson also spoke highly of individual performances and work effort in training having translated onto the pitch.

“I thought the goals… they’re all team goals, spreading across different goalscorers. I thought there were some really strong individual performances within that as well,” said Richardson as he credited the players with the result.

“You can see the work that’s come out within the international break with the training that we’ve been doing. It’s so pleasing as a manager and coach to see it come out on the pitch, but the players take all the credit. They’ve got to execute what we put on, and I demand a lot from them, but they respond really well.”

The 46-year-old however iterated that Reading aren’t the finished product with plenty of areas in the play to improve if want to push for promotion.

“Even today, there’s a lot that we can improve on. There’s a lot that we can get better with, and we’ve got to make sure that our bar’s set and we keep pushing through that,” quipped Richardson who believes that his team are capable of more success.

“There’s still a lot left in this team. I see them every day, I see how hard they work, I see what they are together, and I can see what they can be. Fingers crossed we can keep working hard, keep improving and keep getting days like that.”