READING MANAGER Mark Bowen said the defeat was ‘difficult to take’ after the Royals were eliminated from the FA Cup by Premier League Sheffield United in a pulsating cup tie.
It took extra-time for the Blades to progress as Billy Sharp’s 105th minute goal turned out to be the decisive goal in the contest.
“It is hard to take when you put that much effort into the game,” said Bowen.
“I’m disappointed because both goals were from crosses and we do a lot of work on that.
“They caught us cold (with the early goal). We fought our way back into the game. We were dreaming and thinking it may go to penalties or we’d snatch a goal but football has a habit of coming back and hitting you.”
Despite defeat, the Royals manager was keen to take the positives from an impressive Reading display against Premier League opposition.
“As a club, we have to make sure we are more consistent. We’ve set our self a goal to get into the top half. Saturday away at Birmingham is as important as tonight’s game now and we have to make sure we are physically and mentally ready.
“It is difficult to take but we have to take those positives and be ready to go on Saturday.
“We showed we can play most teams, we’ve got to make sure we don’t let ourselves down when there is a different expectancy. We’ve found it difficult when we have expectancy for our own fans.”
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder was full of praise for the Royals who pushed his high flying Premier League side all the way in a closely contested cup tie.
“It was a tight game. It was a tough game,” said Wilder.
“I thought the Reading crowd were excellent and they really inspired their players.
“It was a really dangerous game for us. So to get the win in a tight game was really satisfying for us.
“The Reading players raised their game. We knew it’d be a different Reading from their last two games and a different crowd.
“They sat deep and we weren’t effective in our play. but we got he job done.”
